Red Bull’s Christian Horner: Spain proves that “the whole team is operating at an elite level”

Red Bull Racing Team Principal Christian Horner praised Max Verstappen’s stellar performance at the Spanish Grand Prix, having led from start to finish and pulled a gap of twenty-four seconds to Lewis Hamilton in second place. 

“Another great performance from Max. The start was strong, he had to be firm but fair with Carlos into the first turn and from there he managed the race really well. 

“We ran all three compounds today and he had the pace to cover whatever was going on behind him finishing with a 24 second gap by the end of the race. Max was totally in control.”

Alongside Verstappen’s dominant effort, Horner said that the team is at the top of its game from strategy to technical prowess, and is continuously improving in order to support their drivers. 

“But it’s not just Max, the whole Team is operating at an elite level. We have a phenomenal car, we have two great drivers and we are continuing to evolve and become more polished.”

On the other side of the garage, Horner felt that Sergio Pérez did a solid job of making up for his Q2 error that led him to qualify in eleventh– ultimately bringing his RB19 home in fourth place on Sunday.

“It was a good recovery from Checo, especially the second part of the race and I think that will give him a lot more confidence. He had a difficult Monaco, a difficult qualifying but a better Sunday.”

In spite of two difficult weekends in succession for Pérez, Horner is confident that he will be able to return to his previous level of performance. He remains second in the drivers’ championship, with Verstappen holding a significant lead of fifty-three points. 

“Looking at the gap between the two drivers, the pressure is off now and we know what Checo is capable of. I’m sure he will re-find that form from the early races in the near future.”

Credit: Peter Fox / Getty Images / Red Bull Content Pool