ARTICLE AD BOX
Red Bull boss Christian Horner hinted that McLaren's situation in both championships with two drivers in contention - could lead to "personal interests overriding the interests of the team", which could harm the Woking team.
Horner reflected on the battle between the two McLaren drivers for second place at the end of the Emilio Romagne Grand Prix at Imola, when Lando Norris pitted during the safety car exit, putting him back behind team-mate Oscar Piastri.
McLaren allowed them to race, rather than ordering Piastri to let Norris pass, allowing Max Verstappen to retain the lead and escape the competition once again.
Norris eventually overtook Piastri, but the fight was very close at the Tamburello corner, where Piastri defended the inside line in the second turn; Horner praised both men for avoiding contact.
“Oscar was clearly pushing hard at the start and you could see he was starting to have problems with the tyres, especially the front right,” Horner said of McLaren’s strategy.
“It was a dead end whether to go for two or one change. In the end they went for two, but they lost a lot of time because of the length of the pit lane, which is 27 seconds here.”
“That put him in a difficult position with the congestion on the track. Max was then able to continue with low tyre wear. Even with Lando having a clear space behind us, we were able to maintain a nine to nine and a half second lead with ease.”
“When the virtual safety car came out, the pit was pretty straightforward. Oscar went in again according to his strategy, but by then he had used both sets of hard tyres.”
“And then the real safety car came out, Max went in, Lando did too, but it put him back behind Oscar. So you have two drivers fighting for the world championship.”
“At some point, personal interest will always outweigh the team interest. That’s the dilemma. They did a good job of not having contact. It’s commendable that they were allowed to race, but you could see it was very close.”
Red Bull: Progress
Horner believes Red Bull had much better pace on the Imola track that day, after making gradual progress over the weekend.
He was particularly encouraged by Verstappen’s combination of fast laps and good tyre management.
“I think we had enough speed today to respond to everything they could offer us,” Horner added.
“The first stint was very encouraging because we could see that [Verstappen] was managing the tyres better than the drivers behind him. He was driving very smartly and still increasing his lead.”
“And that’s always a good situation. That’s how you get longevity. It’s the first time in a long time that we’ve been in that position.”
English (US) ·