Horner prefers to deal with Verstappen’s anger ‘behind closed doors’
He Hungarian Grand Prix showed Max Verstappen at his most nervous in a long time, with him constantly exchanging messages and complaints on the radio and his engineer questioning his team’s strategic decisions during Sunday’s Hungaroring.
These messages were broadcast around the world live and in various videos on social media, and the Red Bull Racing director was asked about them: Christian Hornerwho, however, preferred to wash dirty rags at home.
Explaining that the strategy decision that angered the three-time champion was marked by the way the first part of the race unfolded, he said: “Max was upset and that’s understandable. He has a very direct line of communication with his engineer, so yes, it’s something that will be discussed between them.”
Horner insists he did not speak to Verstappen after the race about the language he used: “I don’t think it’s in the report.”
Having specified that the famous engineer Giampiero Lambiase He was not referring to Verstappen when he said “childishness” on the radio, but rather to complaints from other rivals, continuing: “Look, they’ve been together for eight years now and there are things we could have done better in the race in Hungary, but that’s something we’re going to talk about as a team.”
In addition to the strategy, Verstappen protested the performance of his car and suggested to the media that some people in the team were not moving in the same direction as the team. Horner remained calm and responded: “I think everyone can see that we need to get more performance. And everyone is working hard on that. So we will have discussions behind closed doors.”
Many believe Verstappen’s problem is that he has become accustomed to the dominance of recent years and is now more nervous seeing how his rivals, especially McLaren F1, seem to have surpassed him or at least caught up: “With the rules steady and such small improvements, you get into a curve where it will be increasingly difficult to find profit. This is normal. “This is a normal Formula 1 cycle.”
“I’ve been in this business for 20 years. It’s always like that. It doesn’t mean you accept it. It means you have to work harder to win, have good races and be in better shape. We know we have to improve in the second half of the year.
Finally, Horner was asked if peace had returned to Red Bull after the problems that hit Jos Verstappen over the winter, which shook the team’s foundations, and after the renewal of Helmut Marko, to which he replied: “I think, look, everyone is focused on the race and, because we have such a close fight for the championship, you can see that everyone is focused on making sure that all the energy is optimised for our work as a team in developing the car and in getting the most out of the race weekends.