Christian Horner is very happy with the second place of Max Verstappen in the RB16. Horner also doesn't blame Verstappen after criticism of his radio messages to the team.
"This was absolutely the highest achievable result today," says Horner in conversation with Sky Sports. The fact that Verstappen manages to split the two Mercedes is a very good result according to the Brit. "Max gets everything out of it. Mercedes had a faster car today. We are satisfied with the drive of Max."
Red Bull has been the fastest with the pit stops every weekend this season and that was no different this week. The first pit stop of Verstappen went in less than two seconds. "They've done a really great job," Horner praises his team.
Red Bull didn't want Verstappen in traffic
Sunday afternoon we heard some angry messages from Verstappen about the onboard radio. The 22 year old driver did not entirely agree with the strategy. "He doesn't have the whole picture the strategists do have, he's ambitious and wants to push. You also hear that his engineer is very clear about him and what his job is," says Horner, who explains why Red Bull waited for the first pit stop. "We didn't want him in traffic, we would have had problems with the tyres."
Horner knew pretty quickly that beating Hamilton would not be feasible. "It was more a matter of keeping Valtteri behind us than attacking Lewis."