Horner on Perez's failed pitstop: 'Wasn't because of technical directive'

The late rain shower in Sochi had completely different consequences for the two Red Bull Racing drivers. Sergio Perez threw away a podium that was assured and Max Verstappen climbed from seventh to second place. According to team principal Christian Horner both drivers have themselves to blame.

Failed pitstop Perez

Perez drives a strong race in the first instance. The Mexican starts in eighth place, but manages to work his way through the race. Before his pitstop, he even leads the race. During his pit stop however, things go wrong. "It took a while to get the tyre off and then the clutch spun the rear wheel, so it took longer to get it back on, so it was frustrating," Horner says of the pit stop at Motorsport.com. During the stop, one of the mechanics injured one of his hands, but it was fortunately not serious, according to the team.

Recently, new rules around pit stops were introduced by the FIA, but the problem was not related to that, according to Horner. "It wasn't because of that technical directive. There was a slight delay in the wheel coming off and the clutch was released when it was in place. So that exacerbated the problem, that's what cost Sergio his race." The pit stop ended up taking almost nine seconds.

Perez gambled and lost

Despite the slow pit stop, Perez manages to work his way up to third place. Until it starts to rain. The teammate of Verstappen stayed out longer and eventually dropped back to ninth place. Verstappen himself decided to go in and climbed from seventh to second place. According to Horner, this was both drivers' own decisions.

"Checo gambled and wanted to stay out. From the team's point of view that divided our options. Max benefited from the decision to go into the pits and unfortunately Sergio paid the price. It's always easy to see in hindsight, but at the time it's obviously very difficult and it was a great decision by Verstappen, which paid off."