Horner admits mistake: 'You can only go with the information you have on hand'

Verstappen ran a three-stop strategy during the race, until a last-minute safety car came out. Then he made his fourth stop.

Regarding Verstappen’s race, team principal Christian Horner said, “Right up until that safety car, we were a lot closer to the McLarens through strategy than we should have been. They should have been 20 seconds up the road, maybe more, through the strategy we elected to take.”

After Kimi Antonelli went off the track in the last stint of the race, a safety car was called.

Horner said, “The pit stops had been strong, the strategy had been right. Unfortunately, the safety car at that point comes out. You don't want to stay on that set of tyres because everybody else has taken a fresh set and the only thing that we've got left is a new set of hards that you've got no real knowledge of.”

When asked if he would make the same choice again, he said, “In 20/20 hindsight, you'd have left him out; he would have got passed by the two McLarens.”

Horner then questions, “Would he have got passed by [Charles] Leclerc? it's all subjective, you never know. You make a decision with the information you have on hand.”

Which is precisely what happened to Red Bull Racing. As they had already stopped three times, they only had hard tyres left. Leclerc was right behind him and pitted to be on fresh softs versus his old mediums.

After being asked about the softs Verstappen had, Horner said, “The initial set had been used, obviously it's done qualifying and then it does all the laps to the grid and does all the race starts." 

Horner admitted, “With 20/20 hindsight, it's very easy to stay out. Will he have finished third, fourth, who knows? But you can only go with the information you have on hand.”