Horner hails 'unbelievable' Verstappen performance at German GP

Red Bull supremo Christian Horner hailed the performance of Max Verstappen after the Dutchman negotiated torrid conditions to win the German Grand Prix in style.

In a race packed with incident, the lead changed on multiple occasions but with Mercedes and Ferrari both struggling, Verstappen took full advantage, pitting a total of five times to work through tyre changes and claim the chequered flag.

It's the second win in three races for the 21-year-old, and Horner took time to praise his calmness under pressure, as well as the efforts of his pit team.

He said: "It was unbelievable. Out of the five stops we got one pit stop wrong, thinking we would need that tyre to get to the end of the race. You've just got to keep your head.

"Max's restarts were unbelievable. We had the opportunity to put another new set of tyres on, and that gave Max a really good tyre to build a gap, and then with the new slicks, and then he was away. We were just making sure we kept the right tyre at the right time. Different things are happening at different corners.

"Those kind of races he excels at. He was in total control when he got to the front. Once he got clean air he was in a class of his own."

Horner added that the team need to look at the quality of their starts despite the win, with both Verstappen and Pierre Gasly spinning on the grid and losing positions.

He added: "They [the starts] were pretty horrible. I don't know whether it was that side of the grid. It didn't move, but they kept their head. [Max] passed the cars that he needed to and got in behind the Mercedes."

With Budapest to come next week, Horner is refusing to get carried away but added that, theoretically, the track could suit the Red Bull.

He concluded: "We've won two races, a couple of other 'shoulda beens'. We've got a great race car and hopefully we can sign off with a good result in Budapest.

"We were quick here in dry conditions so we fancied our chances. But we've seen tyres playing such a key role this year so it's impossible to predict."

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