Horner on Verstappen issue: 'Don't know if it was a driveshaft'

As in Bahrain, there was a one-two in Saudi Arabia for Red Bull Racing. A better season start could not be imagined for the Austrian racing team, although the RB19 is not entirely problem-free. Christian Horner looks back on the race at the Jeddah Corniche Circuit.

"The team have built an incredible car," Horner praised the engineers to Sky Sports. "We saw today two drivers pushing each other. Max coming through from 15th on the grid, by half distance he was P4. For Checo, I think that was his best ever race. Managing the pace, the restart."

Problems for Verstappen

In the final 20 laps, it was Perez vs Verstappen and in the end the former emerged victorious. He defended his six-second lead with verve. "Those guys were going flat out until we thought we had an issue with Max. Looked through all the data, it was fine and then flat-out again," he said. After looking at the data, Verstappen was again given the green light to push harder.

"We don't know it was a driveshaft, he got a noise in the car and he reports that to us. Thoughts went immediately to yesterday's failure. We checked all the data, do what we can and support from Milton Keynes as well. We couldn't see anything, free to go," Horner said.

The 25-year-old Dutchman then went for the fastest race lap and in this he succeeded, remaining leader in the world championship.