Christian Horner was delighted by the teamwork within Oracle Red Bull Racing that allowed Max Verstappen to recover from a disappointing Friday at Circuit Zandvoort to take pole position on Saturday.
Verstappen missed most of first practice on Friday due to a gearbox issue on his RB18, while he was only eighth fastest in the second session. Red Bull worked hard on the car overnight, and whilst he was only third in final practice on Saturday morning, he worked his way to the top in Qualifying, beating Scuderia Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc by 0.021 seconds.
Horner, the Team Principal at Red Bull, called Verstappen’s lap ‘perfect’, which allowed him to pip Leclerc, and secure a fourth pole position of a season.
“When you watch elite sportsmen at the top of their game they can really turn it on under pressure and Max did just that,” said Horner. “He’s gaining more experience.
“He is continuing to mature and develop, and he has proved throughout the year that he can deliver an outstanding performance. Charles put down a hell of a marker and there was a lot of pressure on Max to turn in a perfect lap and he did it.
“It was a tiny margin but a vital one for tomorrows race. But, as I have said before, it’s all about team work. There is a lot of hard work that goes on behind the scenes, crunching the numbers and working on the simulator late into the night back at home in Milton Keynes.”
Horner admitted it was disappointing to see Sergio Pérez spin during his final flying lap in Q3, feeling the Mexican was on course for a top four spot on the grid but for the incident at the final turn.
Despite this, he feels Pérez can be in contention on Sunday afternoon, although Horner believes it will be a tight race between Red Bull, Ferrari and the Mercedes-AMG Petronas Formula One Team.
“It is a shame for Checo not to be able to finish that final lap,” he said. “He was up there as well and he would probably have been on the second row but he is P5 and will be able to fight hard from there against Charles and Carlos.
“Mercedes will be also be competitive in the race, they have nothing to lose, they will push hard and it all sets up for a very exciting contest tomorrow.”