Christian Horner reveals F1 'PRIVILEGE' only Red Bull get at Belgian GP

Red Bull celebrating the win of Max Verstappen in Spain — Photo: © LAT Images

Christian Horner

Horner reveals F1 'PRIVILEGE' only Red Bull get at Belgian GP

It's a lasting effect from last season when the team stormed to the title

Joe Ellis

Sunday 30 July 2023 08:12

Chrisitan Horner has claimed that the privilege Red Bull has in pitlane didn't help the team's cause in the Belgian GP sprint.

As the 2022 constructors' champions, Red Bull has the first pit garage upon entering the lane which is usually a handy advantage but turned into a hindrance at Spa.

With everyone wanting to pit at the earliest opportunity, Red Bull had to be wary of other cars coming past them before releasing the drivers.

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It didn't matter for Max Verstappen, in the end, as he went on to win the sprint but Sergio Perez had to retire after contact with Lewis Hamilton.

Horner: The privilege of being first

Max Verstappen was untouchable once he passed Oscar Piastri for the win

"Obviously the privilege of being first in the pit lane is you have the whole of the grid potentially coming in behind you," Horner said to Sky Sports. "The safer thing to do with Max was to take the start and pit Checo.

“Checo had an amazing stop and great release that got him ahead of the Ferraris and Lewis so that elevated him to fourth.

“Max stopped at the end of that first lap and came out behind Oscar but closed him down and converted the win. Very strong drive again by Oscar Piastri again.

“It’s risk vs reward and for one point, it didn’t seem to play out. We took the start and had confidence we should have good pace but you never know.

"Max commented he saw Oscar used the tyres quite hard and that maybe made it easier for him to convert the win."