F1 Hungarian Grand Prix: Christian Horner takes SLY jab at McLaren in Max Verstappen rant retort

Verstappen, Horner, social — Photo: © IMAGO

Latest F1 News

Red Bull boss makes SLY jab at McLaren in Verstappen rant retort

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

Originally written by Sam Cook. This version is a translation.

Monday 22 July 2024 22:00

Red Bull team principal Christian Horner queried McLaren's strategy and radio calls following his own team's questionable race approach which led to outbursts from his star driver.

Max Verstappen delivered several expletive-fuelled verdicts throughout the race, incensed by the strategy which saw Lewis Hamilton undercut him twice and the back-and-forth with his race engineer Gianpiero Lambiase.

Article continues under video

Verstappen ended up fifth, having been unable to fight for the win after pit stops which led the Dutchman to describe his team's strategy as 's***'.

While his radio rants lasted for much of the race, the final straw came when Lambiase seemed to label 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

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 their one-two.

While Norris did eventually concede the position back to the Australian, 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.

Christian Horner attempted to deflect attention towards McLaren's issues

"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.

"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."

Max Verstappen Lewis Hamilton McLaren Christian Horner Oscar Piastri Hungarian Grand Prix