Christian Horner has detailed the sequence of events that occurred during the closing stages of the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix after another dominant performance.
Both drivers encountered problems during the race but managed to secure a 1-2 finish. Perez had concerns regarding his long brake pedal, while Verstappen reported experiencing the same vibrations that led to his driveshaft issues during Saturday’s Q2 session.
Red Bull asked Perez to manage his pace and bring the car home, prompting him to question whether the same instructions were given to Verstappen in second place.
After the race, Perez called for an internal review of the team’s communication process as he was left unsure of the overall plan between the two drivers.
Horner, however, believes that Perez’s inquiries were normal and not a cause for concern, and explained the timeline of events from his perspective.
As quoted by Motorsport.com, Horner said: “There’s always going to be that when you’re the lead car.”
“You always want to know that the tail car has hit the target first. So that’s entirely normal. I think for us as a team, we were concerned about if there was a reliability issue, how do we manage that?”
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According to Horner, there were no instructions given to the team to prioritize one driver over the other during the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix.
Additionally, he mentioned that the drivers were given the freedom to compete against each other once it became apparent that there were no significant issues with the reliability of their vehicles.
“Once we saw there was no issue that we could see in the data, it was a question of letting them get on with it, and then basically both managing the last five laps.
“The only debates about managing the pace was when the issue with the driveshaft became prevalent.
“At that point think ‘okay, let’s turn down both cars’. But as soon as it became clear that we couldn’t see anything in the data, we released the cars again.
“We talked about [team orders] in a briefing that you’re free to race, but you keep it clean.”
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With Verstappen securing the fastest lap point previously held by Perez on the last lap, Horner does not seem troubled by this matter.
He explained that Perez made an effort to reclaim the point on the last lap, but eventually gave up the attempt.
“Well, I think we came to the conclusion that you know what, it’s the last lap. If he’s going to go, he’s going to go.
“So I think he’d already come to that conclusion himself. Both drivers had the info. Checo had the fastest lap at that point, he asked what it was.
“So it was obvious why he was asking. He knew that Max was going to have a crack at it. And Checo gave it up after the first couple of turns, he was already a tenth and a half down, and then you saw him back out of it.
“I think that you pass the message on to the driver, of course the team’s interest is to maximise the points and at whatever point you feel that you may have a reliability issue then you obviously manage that.
“I think inevitably Max said on the radio the point for the fastest lap meant a great deal to him and there was no reason for us not to let either he or Checo have a crack at it.”
After the initial two races, the Red Bull duo can only be separated by a point, with Verstappen having accumulated 44 points and his team-mate Perez 43 points.
The comments from the team principle have just confirmed that the engines were turned down the question is who`s was turned up most and when ??? Sorry Horner it stinks just the same as the rest of your antics.
“ “At that point think ‘okay, let’s turn down both cars’. But as soon as it became clear that we couldn’t see anything in the data, we released the cars again.”
Which part of that last sentence didn’t you understand???
Love the conspiracy theorists having a field day. Its very simple. Checo must grow up and get with the program. They were both told free to race. Checo assumed max would not get fastest lap so he slowed angsve up pushing for another fastest lap which he may have gotten so people five it a rest.
So obviously there are team orders but in disguise, by turning the engine power up or down to suit, checo is with the program and so is all of the red bull team
The team already had maximum points (25+18+1) when Max decided to threaten the team’s position by pushing for fastest lap instead of getting the car home safely.
Max, the team player.