Horner "grateful" for Verstappen failure
Horner "grateful" for Verstappen failure
Red Bull team principal Christian Horner has revealed that hindsight left him "grateful" for Max Verstappen's power unit problem in qualifying.
Verstappen scored his eighth win of the season on Sunday by taking the chequered flag at the Hungarian Grand Prix to take an 80-point lead over Charles Leclerc into F1's summer shutdown.
Red Bull and Verstappen, however, had endured a difficult start to the weekend as the reigning champion was hit with a power unit problem in Q3 that relegated him to 10th on the grid.
After discovering the problem was impossible to fix on-site, Red Bull changed the engines on both cars for the race. For Sergio Perez, it was simply precautionary.
But had the issue not been discovered in qualifying, Horner revealed how close Verstappen would have been to disaster.
“We changed the power unit because there was a component that broke in Max’s car on Saturday," said Horner.
"Thankfully, sitting here with 20-20 hindsight, I'm grateful it did break then because another 12 kilometres and it would have broken on the way to the grid," said Horner.
“So we elected to change the whole power unit rather than to try and repair in the field, and as a precaution, we also changed Checo’s.”
When Red Bull believed in Hungary victory
From such a grid slot and in dry conditions at the Hungaroring, arguably Verstappen should not have won the race from that position.
But not for the first time this season, Ferrari contrived to strategically snatch defeat from the jaws of victory after Leclerc took up the lead on lap 31 of 70 after passing Mercedes' George Russell.
Seven laps later, however, Ferrari opted to cover off a Verstappen pit stop by bringing in Leclerc and switch him onto the hard tyre, which proved a disaster.
Horner explained that it was only after that stop that he started to believe the win was possible.
Asked if he had expected Ferrari to attempt to cover Verstappen by also stopping, Horner said: "No, because I felt that Ferrari was on a very different strategy at that point.
"They looked to bank track position but as soon as they pitted Charles and brought out a set of hard tyres it really felt that a victory was possible."
Related
Change your timezone:
Latest News
Haas announce Hulkenberg EXIT as F1 star's new team confirmed
- Today 11:27
F1 champion claims Drive to Survive success was 'very lucky'
- 1 hour ago
F1 franchise welcomes return of INCREDIBLE feature
- 2 hours ago
F1 News Today: Red Bull star set to QUIT team as F1 driver role CONFIRMED for 2025
- 2 hours ago
F1 team set to axe BOTH star drivers
- 3 hours ago
Red Bull to lose F1 MVP as true cost of Horner saga hits
- Today 09:57
Related news
Manufacturer gives UPDATE on controversial Verstappen award saga
Rosberg opens up on CURSE after jinxing two more drivers
F1 star admits he 'could've stayed in hotel' in STUNNING Hungarian GP revelation
Schumacher claims Perez's Red Bull days 'are numbered'
F1 Standings
Drivers
- Oliver Bearman
- Charles Leclerc
- Carlos Sainz
- Lando Norris
- Oscar Piastri
- Pierre Gasly
- Esteban Ocon
- Sergio Pérez
- Max Verstappen
- Alexander Albon
- Logan Sargeant
- Lewis Hamilton
- George Russell
- Nico Hülkenberg
- Kevin Magnussen
- Fernando Alonso
- Lance Stroll
- Valtteri Bottas
- Zhou Guanyu
- Daniel Ricciardo
- Yuki Tsunoda
Races
- Gulf Air Grand Prix of Bahrain 2024
- Saudi Arabian Grand Prix 2024
- Grand Prix of Australia 2024
- MSC Cruises Grand Prix of Japan 2024
- Grand Prix of China 2024
- Miami Grand Prix 2024
- Gran Premio dell'Emilia Romagna 2024
- Grand Prix of Monaco 2024
- Grand Prix du Canada 2024
- Gran Premio de España 2024
- Grand Prix of Austria 2024
- Grand Prix of Great Britain 2024
- Grand Prix of Hungary 2024
- Grand Prix of Belgium 2024
- Heineken Dutch Grand Prix 2024
- Grand Prix of Italy 2024
- Grand Prix of Azerbaijan 2024
- Grand Prix of Singapore 2024
- Grand Prix of the United States 2024
- Gran Premio de la Ciudad de Mexico 2024
- Grande Prêmio de São Paulo 2024
- Heineken Silver Las Vegas Grand Prix 2024
- Qatar Grand Prix 2024
- Grand Prix of Abu Dhabi 2024
About GPFans
GPFans is a multi-platform, multi-language brand dedicated to Formula One coverage. We bring you all the ins and outs of the sport, 24/7, everything from up-to-the-minute news and features to the latest viral stories and clips.We believe that a new generation of exciting, outspoken drivers will make F1 more popular than ever before, and we want to give our users access to as much of their heroes as possible, on and off the track. From Lewis Hamilton to Max Verstappen, Daniel Ricciardo to Sebastian Vettel, we provide in-depth analysis of every every Grand Prix in the season, from Australia to Abu Dhabi.
With Formula One under the new ownership of Liberty Media, how the sport is being covered is evolving, and GPFans will look to be at the heart of this progression into new media, as one of the fastest-growing sites covering the king of motorsports.
Follow us on your favorite social media channel
Corporate & Media
Innovatieweg 20C7007 CD, Doetinchem, Netherlands
+31645516860