Red Bull: Christian Horner HITS BACK at George Russell and Mercedes after Australian Grand Prix claim

Christian Horner

Horner HITS BACK at Russell and Mercedes after Australian Grand Prix claim

Russell had claimed that Red Bull were seven-tenths ahead of the field

Joe Ellis

Tuesday 4 April 2023 20:26 Updated: 20:38

Christian Horner has snapped back at George Russell and Mercedes for comments made after the Australian Grand Prix.

Red Bull dominated the Melbourne weekend with Max Verstappen taking both pole position and the race win.

This domination appeared to be under threat in the early stages on Sunday after Russell jumped the Dutchman into the first corner.

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After a power unit failure put the Mercedes driver out of the race, Russell suggested that Red Bull held an advantage of around seven-tenths per lap over the rest of the field.

George Russell took the lead at Turn 1 and only lost it during an early safety car period

Intense rivalry

"That's very generous of him," said Horner.

"His team would know too well about those kinds of advantages.

"There's always an element of managing that goes on in any race. Because it was a one-stop race, and a very early one-stop race, of course, there was an element of tyre management going on, and you could see how Checo (Perez) wasn't hanging about.

"He wasn't cruising around, or holding back seven-tenths a lap because he didn't want to show it. The grid was certainly a little bit closer here."