It definitely wasn’t the race Red Bull was hoping for, with neither driver on the podium and many angry radio messages from lead driver Max Verstappen.
The Dutchman was involved in a number of on track fights, including the most controversial one on lap 63 which saw him going airborne after making contact with Lewis Hamilton as they battled into turn 1 for P3. The three-time World Champion was able to continue his race and seal a top 5 finish, but he definitely wasn’t pleased with some of the calls made by his team and the FIA.
Red Bull’s team principal Christian Horner discussed his race afterwards, recalling the turn 1 incident which saw him running wide off track to overtake polesitter Lando Norris, which resulted in Verstappen giving him back the spot as a 10-second penalty was coming otherwise.
“It was very hard to follow in the dirty air today, probably more so than we expected, I think.
“If we wind the clock all the way back. Obviously, at the start, he made a position, we felt that it was a racing incident, three had got into the corner, naturally ran out of the road under the let them race mantra, we thought it looked okay.
“But as soon as it goes to the stewards at that point, the feeling is that you’re probably going to get a penalty. So that’s why we conceded the place back to Lando, then you’re really in the dirty air.”
Horner also detailed the strategy Red Bull employed. With Hamilton undercutting in both stints, and Charles Leclerc doing the same at the second round of stops, Verstappen was asked to extend both times to try and create a tyre delta.
It looked like it was working both times, but he made mistakes in the second and final stints trying to pass Hamilton, in an unusually poor performance by the 26-year-old.
“Lewis, with his two sets of hard tyres, went very early. We were considering going that early, but at that point, you’re racing for third. And with the two hard tyres, he had the ability to shuffle his race that early. So, we felt, go longer, give an overlap advantage.
“And actually, on the hard tyre, you can see, Max was competitive, he was strong, certainly compared to the McLaren.
“So, he caught Lewis quickly. And then, unfortunately, in the dirty air, got stuck as Lewis started to really drop off. So, if we’d have got past Lewis at that point, then we may have been able to have a go at one of the McLarens at the end of the race.”
“Because of the wake and being stuck in the dirty air and dropping off [Hamilton in pace], both he and Charles pit early again, so we then go for a nine-lap overlap.
“And again, you can see his pace, he’s very, very strong, catches them quickly, picks off Leclerc and then a racing incident with Lewis is probably the best way to describe it. Then, we picked up some damage after the car’s gone through the air.
“So, a frustrating race. I think when you look at the race plot now, ifs, buts and maybes.
“But, yeah, I think probably the thing we underestimated was how tricky it was in the dirty air, it was that section of the race there that did the most damage for us,” the Englishman said.
Overall, it wasn’t a pleasant weekend for either of the drivers. However Sergio Pérez was able to turn his weekend around somewhat. The Mexican driver had qualified in P16, crashing out in Q1, but managed to make his way up the order during the 70-lap race, beating George Russell to P7.
Horner had kind words for the driver who has recently signed a contract extension with Red Bull, focusing on the good speed he showed on Sunday, as well as good work by the strategy team.
“Well, Checo’s race, starting on the hard, he dropped behind Russell. And then as soon as he got a bit into clear air and after that first pit stop, look at his pace, it’s actually very similar to McLaren.
“So he’s actually driven a good race today, and I think the strategy with Checo actually getting the undercut on George and going a bit earlier at that point actually worked pretty well for him today.
“He had good pace, he made some good passes and hopefully we’ll have taken a lot of confidence out of that.
“That was probably Checo’s strongest race since China I would say. So, he should take some confidence out of today’s race.
“If he had qualified more in position yesterday, you could see he would have been in a much more competitive position.”
Pérez has not qualified inside the top 5 since Miami, with the Mexican dropping out in Q1 at four of the last six rounds.
“Yeah, well that’s something that has to change,” Horner stated.
