Red Bull Team Principal Christian Horner has revealed that Max Verstappen apologised to the team following his collision with George Russell at the Spanish Grand Prix. The incident caused Verstappen to drop from fifth to tenth place after receiving a 10-second time penalty.
The collision followed a late Safety Car, triggered by Antonelli’s mechanical failure. Most drivers, including Verstappen, took the chance to pit. However, Verstappen was left with only a set of hard tyres, putting him at a disadvantage to his competitors on softer compounds.
Charles Leclerc quickly overtook Verstappen for third before Russell attempted to pass on the restart. Initial contact between Verstappen and Russell forced the Dutchman to take the escape road. Frustrations intensified when Red Bull instructed their driver to return the place to Russell. However, the attempt to do so led to further collision, resulting in the 10-second penalty.
Verstappen admits fault
Verstappen later took responsibility for the incident, admitting on social media that his move “was not right and shouldn’t have happened.” His team principal, Christian Horner, emphasised that the Dutchman personally apologised to Red Bull during the race debrief.
When speaking to Sky Sports F1 during the Canadian Grand Prix weekend, Horner revealed that the team have put it behind them. He stated that Max will learn lessons from this incident.
“It happened in the debrief… It was a frustrating race for Max and the team. With hindsight, I’m sure he wouldn’t have done it, but there were a lot of factors involved. Max apologised to the team and accepted the severity of the penalty. Life’s about learning, and he’ll take lessons from this race.”
This aggressive driving style from Verstappen has won him four consecutive championships. Horner praised Verstappen’s passionate driving style, drawing comparisons to iconic World Champions like Ayrton Senna and Michael Schumacher.
“Max drives with a huge amount of emotion—that’s part of what makes him so brilliant… But that same emotion can sometimes lead to misjudgments. We’ve seen it with all the greats over the years.”
Despite this, Horner also accepted that it was a mistake from the reigning World Champion. Emphasising that Verstappen’s immediate apology to his team showed a mature response despite the points lost.
“The important thing is that he owned it straight away and apologised.”
Horner defends strategy calls in Barcelona
When asked whether Red Bull made the right calls in Barcelona, Horner explained the thinking behind their choices.
“We were on a three-stop strategy that was working well, but that limited our tyre options if a Safety Car came out,”
“We could’ve stayed out on Max’s eight-lap-old softs, but the McLarens would have had a free stop and would have easily passed him. We chose to pit for a new set of hards instead.”
The Safety Car stayed out longer than Red Bull had anticipated, making tyre warm-up particularly challenging for Verstappen
“Max did well to catch a big snap on the restart, but that gave Charles a chance to get by. His next lap was actually his fastest of the race.”
Reflecting on the situation, Horner admitted that staying out on used softs might have secured a podium, but the decision was based on the information available to the team.
Following the incident, Verstappen now sits one penalty point away from a one-race ban. When asked who could potentially step in if Verstappen was to miss a race, Horner suggested Red Bull has drivers ready. Namely, Formula 2 driver Arvid Lindblad.
“Arvid Lindblad just received his Super Licence, but he’s at the very beginning of his F1 journey.”
“Of course, this is a situation we want to avoid, but we have enough drivers in the Red Bull pool to cover it if needed. We’ll deal with it if it happens.”
