Horner outlines: the reason why Red Bull opted for Verstappen's risky setup

21:29, 06 Jul

Updated: 22:22, 06 Jul

byTobia Elia

Christian Horner analyzed a very tough British Grand Prix for Red Bull and Max Verstappen, with their low-downforce Monza-style aerodynamic setup turning out to be a boomerang in the wet race conditions.

Aware of McLaren’s superiority ahead of the weekend, Red Bull decided to take an extremely aggressive approach, opting for a very low-downforce Monza-style setup and rear wing.

This paid off massively in qualifying, with Max Verstappen securing a pole position that was as unexpected as it was outstanding. However, the heavy rain that fell shortly before the race proved to be a fatal double-edged sword for the RB21, which struggled tremendously due to the lack of aerodynamic downforce.

The Monza-style aerodynamic choice was one of the main topics addressed by Christian Horner, who drew conclusions from the weekend while speaking to the media, including GPblog.

A tought day for Verstappen and Red Bull

''We trimmed down the car basically to Monza levels of downforce and we're able to obviously get a balance that enabled Max to get a fantastic pole position, that matched Sebastian Vettel's record.''

So why did Red Bull make that choice? ''That was based on the forecast that we had that there might be a 20% chance of rain on Sunday morning, but there are dry conditions, and I don't think any forecast that we certainly saw showed any chance that the rain was going to be that heavy and that late.''

''So lining up on the grid, as in the conditions it was I thought Max had a super start was able to feel his way around those first few laps, but it was clear very early on that Oscar had quite an advantage pace-wise.''

''And then again, as the tyres started to overheat as it was drying out, because it rained on part of the track and not on all of it, you could see where McLaren's up advantage, particularly on that tyre, it was truly evident.''

''And they were miles ahead of the rest of the pack, to the point that then the rain started, which was what we were trying to get to the guys that had gone to slicks went too early, and the track just wasn't quite ready for it, but it was clear that rain was coming in.''

''I felt we got the crossover time right waiting for that rain. We were able to jump back past in the pits past Lando, which then got Max back out into position, and then thereafter the safety car came out. That's where the race started to unfold for us unfortunately.''