Horner defends why Verstappen did not help teammate Perez with a tow

Max Verstappen announced prior to qualifying for the Belgian Grand Prix that he would not be giving Sergio Perez a slipstream. According to the reigning World Champion, his Mexican teammate should be able to finish ahead of Carlos Sainz on his own. That turned out not to be the case. Christian Horner discusses the subject at Sky Sports.

Verstappen does not help Perez

In front of the television medium, he defended Verstappen's words and explained that it was a strategic choice not to give Perez a tow.

Verstappen could have done the same as Charles Leclerc did to Sainz in the final run in Q3, but by then the Dutchman had already left the car for a while. He had no programme left to complete, but Perez's help was not forthcoming.

"Checo made a mistake in Turn 5-6. He had the Mercedes slipstream, if I'm not mistaken. We were talking internally about the slipstream, but we thought there was more chance of making a mistake than getting it right. We also thought the car had enough pace today," Horner said, indirectly indicating that Red Bull were not entirely satisfied with Perez's third time.

Many variables

The points are not distributed until Sunday, so nothing is lost for the Austrian team. Horner is looking forward to the race. "Will it be warmer tomorrow? I hope so, it's almost freezing man. As for the influence of the temperature increase on the car, I don't know, the weather will be the same for everyone. One or two stops, the behaviour of the tyres, the temperature: there are so many questions that we cannot answer, tomorrow's race will be a thriller."