Christian Horner F1 News: Red Bull boss takes SLY dig at rivals in Max Verstappen rant response

Verstappen, Horner, social — Photo: © IMAGO

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Horner takes SLY dig at F1 rivals in Verstappen rant response

Christian Horner has questioned McLaren's approach to the Hungarian Grand Prix

Sam Cook Digital Journalist

Sports Journalist who has been covering motorsport since 2023

Monday 22 July 2024 08:27 Updated: 20:53

Red Bull team principal Christian Horner has questioned one of his rival's approach following an X-rated radio rant from star driver Max Verstappen.

Verstappen was left audibly frustrated by his Red Bull team's strategy during the Hungarian Grand Prix, and was only able to finish down in fifth, despite having been challenging for the lead in the early stages.

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He was undercut by both Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc on two occasions, leading to the Dutchman describing hist team's strategy as 's***'.

While his radio rants lasted for much of the race, the final straw came when his engineer Gianpiero Lambiase labelled him 'childish' for blaming Hamilton after the pair collided heading into turn one while battling for third position.

Gianpiero Lambiase and Max Verstappen shared some heated exchanges

Oscar Piastri won the Hungarian Grand Prix

Horner compares Verstappen feud with McLaren

Horner was asked about Verstappen's team radio antics after the race, and the Brit compared it to something similar that was going on at championship rivals McLaren.

Lando Norris looked set to disobey team orders when he built a six-second gap to team-mate Oscar Piastri, all after the team had decided to use Norris to undercut Piastri in order to protect the team one-two.

While Norris did eventually concede the position back to Piastri, the incident potentially gave fans the first sign of a McLaren 'civil war' breaking out, with their two young drivers both desperate for success.

Now, Horner has commented on the drama, both within his team and at championship rivals McLaren.

"It just didn’t work out for us today, we tried giving an overlap to give him the pace but plenty for us to look at after the race to see what we could’ve done better," Horner told Sky Sports F1 after the race.

The Hungarian Grand Prix was a frustrating one for Red Bull

"We seemed to have a bit of understeer in the car today, I think losing that position at the start having to give it back to Lando was important because once you’re in that dirty air you can see it affects the middle sector because there were times during the race where we were actually looking pretty competitive. Frustrating, lots to take out of the race, lots to analyse, and we’ll come back in a week’s time.

"Unfortunately, frustrations of a driver play out over the radio, I didn’t hear much of McLaren’s radio but I guess there was a fair amount more going on on that one but congratulations to Oscar Piastri today, he deserved that victory.

"It’s an awkward position to be in and I don’t understand why they didn’t give Oscar the first pit stop so they put themselves into that position but obviously it was something they discussed pre-race, and Lando did what was asked of him."

Red Bull Max Verstappen Lewis Hamilton FIA Christian Horner Charles Leclerc