Red Bull’s Christian Horner on Max Verstappen: “He was driving on a different planet”

After Max Verstappen secured his second FIA Formula 1 World Championship title at the Japanese Grand Prix, Oracle Red Bull Racing Team Principal Christian Horner has described the two-time World Champion’s performance around the Suzuka International Racing Course as a ‘truly dominant’ drive.

Starting from pole-position, Verstappen was able to fend off the challenge from Charles Leclerc on the opening lap to ensure that he would then start the resumption of the race some two hours later, still at the front of the pack.

Come the restart and Verstappen would enter a league of his own and after having to overtake Mick Schumacher along the start/finish straight, shortly after he had pitted for the intermediate tyres, the Dutchman would then open up a sizeable gap between him and the rest of the field in just thirty minutes of racing.

Verstappen would create a near twenty-seven gap to the nearest car on track to take the checkered flag for his twelfth race victory of the season. While at first it appeared that the Dutchmen would have to wait till Austin to claim his second world championship, the confusion was soon cleared up, with the result confirming Verstappen had indeed claimed his second championship as Charles Leclerc was handed a late five-second time penalty.

With his second world championship secured with four races remaining in the season, Horner was full of praise for his star man after the race.

“What a race! Coming to the end, we were not sure we would be awarded full points, but to finish like that is beyond all of our wildest dreams. Max was truly dominant, he has been all season, but he was driving on a different planet today, finishing nearly 27 seconds in front of everyone else is an unreal effort which encapsulates his season perfectly. That is our 14th victory which is a record for the team and exemplifies how he and the team have raised it to the next level at every race.

“We are incredibly proud of and grateful for all the hard work put in by him and the team, both here and in Milton Keynes and all our partners for helping to make it happen. To achieve this Championship is truly special and to do it here in Japan with Honda makes it even more special.“

For Sergio Pérez, the Mexican would once again play a key role in helping to secure Verstappen the world championship. Perez’s late surge to chase down Leclerc would result in the Monegasque driver making a key mistake at turn seventeen which would see him fail to make the corner and on his return to the track would push the Mexican wide as they made their way to the finish line.

A five-second time penalty was applied to the Scuderia Ferrari, which would promote Pérez into second place giving the Milton Keynes-based team their fifth one-two finish of the season. With Pérez finishing ahead of Leclerc, the Mexican driver has now moved ahead of the Ferrari driver in the driver’s standings and Horner is determined to keep his driver there come the end of the season.

“Checo has also had an incredible run, his season has been equally impressive. He is second in the Championship and we are all working hard to keep him there. Equally, we are working to bring home the Constructor Championship after eight long years. So the season isn’t over by a long shot, there is still a lot of racing still to do and we are looking forward to getting back to it in Austin.”

Credit: Clive Mason/Getty Images/Red Bull Content Pool