Horner: "It feels like a victory for Max Verstappen today"

Christian Horner says Max Verstappen's P2 "feels like a win". The Dutchman decided to take his new engine this weekend and therefore started from the back of the grid for the Russian Grand Prix. For a while, it looked like Verstappen was stuck in P7 but he benefited from the rain at the end. 

It was all about damage limitation for Verstappen. Mercedes remain unbeaten in Sochi, but Hamilton only holds a two-point lead in the World Championship. This gap was expected to be much bigger before the Grand Prix started. 

Rain

Rain threatened throughout the race but only came for the last few laps. Horner looks at the situation. 

"You can look like a hero or zero at the end of it. It's a tough call. Max made the call today and he got it right. Checo decided to stick.. thinking that he might be able to get through it and that was the wrong decision. It could have gone either way," Horner told Sky Sports after the race. 

"For Max, in the drivers' [championship] it's damage limitation which is fantastic. In the constructors' we conceded points," Horner refers to Perez's ninth-place finish. "Max nailed it. Made the right decision from P20 to P2 is fantastic. The last two venues we knew that historically it's a Mercedes track. You have to say congratulations to Lewis on his centenary of victories, which is insane."

"It feels like a victory for us with the power unit penalty and grid penalty. That is hugely valuable," Horner concluded.