Horner sees Red Bull avoid risk with Verstappen: 'That's the logical thing to do'

A remarkable decision by Red Bull Racing last Sunday remained largely undiscussed. On lap 60 Max Verstappen made a second pitstop and then drove the last few laps of the race on the same type of tyre, the C3 tyre. It became clear on the race radio that there was a cut in the Dutchman's rear tyre and Christian Horner has now provided some additional explanation.

"Why should we take the risk?", Horner wonders at Motorsport-Total.com. At Red Bull's management, they saw earlier that there would be a cut in the Dutchman's rear tyre and so the decision was quickly made. "We saw a small cut that was not significant, but enough to draw our attention".

Fastest race lap after pit stop

According to the British team boss, then, that cut itself was not a major risk. "The only risk was the pit-stop itself, but the guys did a phenomenal job." Horner saw that Verstappen was able to take the fastest race lap by a wide margin immediately afterwards. "Max did a great job improving his own fastest lap".

Looking back, Horner is happy with the decision to bring Verstappen in, with the events in Baku in mind. "It was a less risky stint to the finish and really the only logical thing to do," Horner concluded.