Horner: 'You can't say you can drive there, but you can't overtake'

Max Verstappen nearly raced to victory in the Bahrain Grand Prix on Sunday but he gave the lead back to Lewis Hamilton. He had overtaken the world champion off the track. Fine, Christian Horner thinks, but it has to be consistent.

Well it’s frustrating when you can see as soon as Mercedes started to push they just use that part of the track. And we questioned with race control ‘if that’s the case, can we do it?

“The race director then asked them to respect the limits, otherwise they’d get a black and white flag."

Horner wants clarity

By warning Mercedes about this, it at least suggests that what Hamilton did is officially not allowed and can be punished. Why the race committee then decided not to enforce this, creates unnecessary confusion Horner believes:

“With these track limits they’re always going to be contentious but we do just need to have a consistent situation. You can’t say it’s OK to use it in a race but you can’t overtake out there. They should either be black or white, they shouldn’t be shades of grey.”