Christian Horner hits out at 'OVER THE TOP' moment in Sprint race

Verstappen, Russell, Baku, Sprint — Photo: © LAT Images

Azerbaijan Grand Prix

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Horner hits out at 'OVER THE TOP' moment in Sprint race

Jamie Lauder

Saturday 29 April 2023 22:27 Updated: 08:16

Max Verstappen pipped George Russell to 3rd place in Saturday’s Sprint Race at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix, but it wasn’t plain-sailing for the Dutchman.

Russell’s lap one overtake didn’t come without controversy, and Red Bull team principal Christian Horner has some words for the English driver after the race, with his perspective on the battle.

“For me, turn one I can live with, turn two was hard-racing between two hard racers, [turn three] felt a bit over the top.”, Horner commented

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The Red Bull certainly didn’t come away unscathed after the encounter with Russell, with a large hole in the left-hand sidepod.

Huge time loss

“When you see a hole like that in the side, it’s got to be three quarters of a second, a lap, at least. Then there’s other complications. The temperature starts going out of control, because the air’s not running through the sidepods as it’s designed to.

George just runs him too far into the wall (and) unfortunately the result of it was that we ended up with quite a lot of body damage...and that cost him quite a bit of performance.”

Verstappen finished the sprint race in P3, behind teammate, Sergio Perez, and Charles Leclerc, but Horner merely noted that he has 'another chance tomorrow', starting in second on the grid for the main event.