Ted Kravitz and Christian Horner look at one another — Photo: © LAT Images

F1 News & Gossip

Horner takes aim at Kravitz with savage jibe at Sky Sports pundit

Round two of Horner vs Kravitz happened a week after their first verbal battle

Tyler Foster

Sunday 22 October 2023 16:17

Red Bull boss Christian Horner took a swing at Sky Sports F1’s Ted Kravitz during Saturday’s sprint shootout in Austin after the pundit incorrectly assumed that Max Verstappen had a mechanical problem.

The pair of Horner and Kravitz have had some history in the past, with comments being exchanged as recent as Qatar.

After Verstappen clinched his third drivers’ title in the Losail sprint, Kravitz spotted the team celebrating with custom shirts. Upon approaching, he asked Horner whether they had a spare for him to wear, but the response he got was a cheap shot about the pundit’s size.

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Under his own breath, Kravitz had the last laugh by suggesting that he would only be needing the Red Bull shirt to sell on eBay.

Kravitz enjoyed his comeback at Horner in Qatar

Conflict in Austin

Verstappen wasn't able to take pole for Sunday's race after having his final laptime deleted for track limits

Just two weeks later and the two were back at it again for another round. This time Kravitz suggested during the sprint shootout that Verstappen was enduring some form of mechanical issue. Hearing this over the pitwall, Horner waited for Sky Sports lead commentator David Croft to return to him before launching another sly dig at the pitlane reporter for his assumptions.

“Ted’s always talking, usually not out of his mouth. There’s always things electrically that you can tidy up, some drivability stuff that Max wanted to tune for the race. Not from a reliability point of view.”

Kravitz’s comments may have been a reach, as Verstappen would go on to return to the top spot by taking pole for the sprint.

With four rounds still remaining in the season after their weekend in Austin, we still may see another edition of the Horner-Kravitz verbal spat before the year is out.