Red Bull team boss Christian Horner doesn’t think his team made a mistake by giving Max Verstappen hard tires in the final phase of the Spanish Grand Prix. The Dutchman got into trouble as a result and lost a place on the podium.
“In hindsight, it’s easy to talk and you can say that we should have kept driving,” Horner said Sunday evening in the paddock of Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya. “Would he have finished third then? Fourth? You don’t know. You can only make decisions based on the information you have at that moment.”
Verstappen seemed to be on his way to a certain third place when the safety car had to be deployed in the final phase of the race. Almost all drivers came in to switch to soft tires, but Verstappen only had a new set of the much slower hard tire left.
Immediately after the restart, Verstappen almost lost control of his car, after which Charles Leclerc overtook him and George Russell also launched an overtaking attempt. Red Bull then instructed Verstappen to let Russell pass, but that didn’t happen without a struggle.
Verstappen punched Russell and received a ten-second time penalty. He crossed the finish line in fifth place, but was classified as tenth. “Until that safety car, we were surprisingly close to the McLarens strategically,” said Horner.
“The pit stops were strong and the strategy was right. Unfortunately, the safety car came at exactly that moment. Then you don’t want to keep driving on that old set of tires, because everyone is taking a new set. The only thing we had available was a new set of hard tires of which we actually had no good reference.”
Verstappen didn’t have to let Russell pass
Horner had not yet spoken to Verstappen about the tap he gave Russell. Verstappen himself stated after the race that he had made a misjudgment.
What made it extra painful for Red Bull and Verstappen is that the FIA ruled that Verstappen – contrary to what Red Bull thought – did not have to let Russell pass at all. “We asked the FIA for clarification, but there was no response,” Horner explained.
“You saw that the incident was reported and went to the stewards. Everything indicated that it would be a penalty. That is why we gave Max the instruction to give the position back. He was obviously not happy with that. He felt that he was not given space and that George did not have the situation under control himself.”
“After consulting with his engineer, he finally decided to give the place back at turn five. There was contact between the two cars. I haven’t spoken to Max since then.”
Horner still believes in world title
Due to Verstappen’s tenth place and the victory of WK leader Oscar Piastri, the Limburger now has a deficit of 49 points in the championship. Horner acknowledged that Verstappen has taken a hit, but does not want to rule out the title yet.
“There is a significant gap, but there are still an awful lot of points to be earned,” said the Briton. “We are not even halfway through the season. McLaren is strong, but we never give up.”
The Formula 1 season will continue in two weeks with the Canadian Grand Prix. That is the tenth race of the Formula 1 calendar, which has a total of 24 races.