Christian Horner says it is 'hard to judge' whether Daniil Kvyat has shown his best form with Red Bull Racing so far as he has suffered with issues during the opening phase of the new F1 season.

Competing in his second year of F1 racing having been promoted from Toro Rosso to Red Bull, Kvyat has endured an inauspicious opening to the year, failing to start at all in Australia and suffering an engine failure in China.

Though he scored in Malaysia and Bahrain with ninth place finishes in both races, Kvyat did so having slipped down the order in the former from fifth on the grid, while he was forced to fight back from 17th in the latter.

Indeed, though Horner has praised Daniel Ricciardo for his composure in the early rounds as Red Bull struggles for consistent form, he feels Kvyat needs to be given more time to flourish with the team.

"The problem for Daniil is he has had a lot issues, more than his fair share, which have interrupted practice, qualifying and races. When he has had a clean run he has done a good job.

"In Malaysia he drove a strong race there, so it is hard to judge him at the moment because he has not had a fair hand. What we are seeing is he is quick, his feedback is strong and he has not let his head drop. I think a bit of time and consistency, you will start to see his potential."