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Red Bull boss Christian Horner, who attended all 400 of his team's races, said he was surprised by McLaren's drop in pace at the Emilio Romagne Grand Prix.
Horner praised Max Verstappen's spectacular Turn 1 overtake on pole-starter Oscar Piastri, calling the move a turning point for the team. The move, which he described as "win or quit", gave Verstappen the lead and paved the way for Red Bull to win their 400th Formula 1 race.
Verstappen overtook Piastri in the Tamburello corner and took the leading position, which he kept until the end, despite one restart behind the safety car and one virtual safety phase of the race.
This is Verstappen's second win of the year, leaving him just 22 points behind championship leader Oscar Piastri.
Horner expressed his relief at the result, especially after a slow start to the season and losing the constructors' championship title to McLaren last year. He says that this victory is a great moral boost and comes at a crucial moment, because the season is moving into the phase of predominantly European races.
"The start was pretty average. In the first corner, I think maybe Oscar was paying more attention to George Russell and left as little space as possible, and Max just went in, win or quit style. He's just so good in those situations - he sees the space and reacts immediately, very decisively."
"After that, we had the pace to create a gap. We had the advantage in tire degradation, we could see that we were in a better situation than McLaren."
"Then the VSC came out, and at a pretty good time, about midway through the race. Then the safety car came out, which allowed another free stop for a couple of the leading drivers."
"But at all times Max had the pace. He could respond whenever needed. We never felt the pressure behind. Great ride. All in all a very positive 400th race."
McLaren's lack of pace
Horner said he was surprised that his team managed to make up for McLaren's lead, especially as the Woking team started the weekend very strongly in practice.
"However, we were more surprised by the lack of pace at McLaren," he added.
"We definitely found a good balance in qualifying, and Max was very happy with the feeling in the car and the ability to rely on the rear end. That was a good sign and it carried over into the race."
"McLaren looked very, very fast in the long stints on Friday. But to have this pace in today's race - I'd say it's the first time since Brazil last year (which was a rain race) that we really had the pace to break away and have less degradation from McLaren."
“It’s very encouraging and a great result for all the hard work behind the scenes. Overall, we’re getting a better understanding of the car and a better feel for it. The technical team are working hard on it. This is our second win, we could have won in Jeddah, we were on the front row yesterday. So it’s a very positive weekend and I think we’re slowly building momentum, which is important at this stage of the championship.”
And while Horner believes his team is building on the strong performance from Imola, as Lando Norris and Piastra traded places, he believes the internal rivalry between McLaren’s drivers could cost the team points in the long run.
“You’ve got two drivers fighting for the world championship,” Horner notes. “At some point, personal interest is always going to override the team interest. It’s a battle.”
“They did a good job not coming into contact. And it’s commendable that they were allowed to race, but it was quite close.”
English (US) ·