Horner sees Verstappen storming to P1: "Hamilton didn't defend too hard"

Christian Horner is immensely pleased that Red Bull Racing managed to win in France, a place where Mercedes are usually strong. Max Verstappen passed Lewis Hamilton on the penultimate lap. Horner reacted extensively afterwards.

"It was an interesting race," Horner told Sky Sports. The Red Bull team boss was impressed with the race pace of Mercedes' W12. "Lewis in clean air was very strong in sector two and three. We didn't think undercut would be so powerful, that's why Mercedes left Lewis out longer," he says to Wolff standing next to him at the microphone.

Horner continued his story with analyst Nico Rosberg: "We went for it with Max and his pace out-lap was great." In the end, Red Bull opted to bring Verstappen in afterwards. "It was like Barcelona, we absolutely didn't want a repeat. We could see Lewis was through to the band of the tyre. That's why we went for the stop and then it was up to Max."

Hamilton cleverly duelling with Verstappen

It still became very tight. The decisive factor was that Verstappen didn't spend too long behind the other Mercedes driver. "Max had five or six laps left after he passed Valtteri. Hamilton was fair with the pass and didn't defend too hard. It was a clean move," the British chief said.

A win at Paul Ricard is something Red Bull is very pleased about. "It was a great race today. It's a big win, but you saw how close it was. We'll leave here very happy tonight."