Christian Horner has given his thoughts on Max Verstappen’s ten-second time penalty at the Spanish GP.
The controversial clash between Max Verstappen and George Russell at the end of the Spanish GP proved costly for the reigning champion.
Following what was seen as a deliberate crash by Dutchman into the Mercedes, the stewards awarded Verstappen a ten second time penalty. Given the tightly packed field, he dropped to 10th at the chequered flag.
Unrepentant of his actions, Verstappen now stands on the brink of a race ban. Speaking to the media after the Spanish GP, Red Bull Racing CEO and Team Principal Christian Horner revealed his thoughts.
“Max had a snap at the restart. Charles got alongside him [and] it looked like he pulled left on him. “Then George obviously tried to capitalise on that into Turn 1 and it was very, very marginal. On recent experience and looking at recent incidents, obviously it’s subjective.
“You’ve asked for guidance from the FIA, from the referee. Essentially, there’s nothing come back. You can see that it’s been reported, it’s going to the stewards.
Confirming the call to let Russell pass
Christian Horner then confirmed the team believed a penalty was inevitable. He revealed Verstappen’s mindset, which contributed to what many deemed a deliberate crash.
“It looked for all intents and purposes that it was going to be a penalty. So, therefore, the instruction was given to Max to give that place back, which he was obviously upset about and annoyed about, because he felt that, one, he’d been left no space and, two, that George hadn’t been fully in control.
“So, after a conversation with his engineer, he elected to give the place back at Turn 5, [and] there was contact between the two cars.”
Given Verstappen’s unwillingness to speak about the incident after the race, Christian Horner confirmed he had to speak to his driver.
However, he labelled the incident “frustrating”, given the loss of the final podium place behind the McLarens.
“I haven’t had a chance to speak to Max from his side, but obviously the stewards deemed that he caused a collision and got 10 seconds and some penalty points, unfortunately.
“It obviously was very frustrating, because it leaves us with one point [10th place] out of the afternoon, what should have been an easy podium.”
