Horner: Max fights as his instincts dictate

In Brazil, Max Verstappen loses five places at the start of the race for the sixth engine change, even though this is only possible the first four times without sanctions. Christian Horner, head of Red Bull Racing, explained the reason for this decision and also commented on the two 10-second penalties given to the three-time world champion in the previous stage in Mexico City.

Christian Horner: “Unfortunately an engine replacement was unavoidable, but we decided to serve the penalty here because overtaking is very possible on this track.

As for those fines, I can understand the second one, but I think the first one is too heavy. This became even clearer when we analyzed the post-race telemetry. The video footage clearly shows that Lando Norris released the brake pedal and accelerated at that turn. He then braked later than on his fastest lap. I don’t think he could have kept the car on the track.

The problem with the current rules in Formula 1 is that the driver who enters the corner on the outside always takes more risks. Priority when turning always belongs to the person on the inner route. And the fine imposed on Max could change the approach to on-track battles.

When you are in the outer radius, you always take more risks, because the inertia of these cars will always take you to the exit of the corner, and the driver of the car in the inner radius, who takes a steeper line, will benefit from this of this. And it is very difficult for him to leave his opponent a space on the track as wide as the body of the car…

We want to fight hard but correctly on track, but we also want the stewards’ decisions to be consistent. There have been similar incidents, but sometimes someone got a fine, sometimes not. But the precedent set in Mexico City will of course still be discussed by the riders together with the race management.

We all want an interesting fight to continue until the end of the championship – both Max and our entire team want this. But the rules governing racers’ actions on the track need to be clearer and less complex. They don’t have to resemble the rules of cricket.

Max fights on the track as his racing instinct tells him, he will always take every opportunity to overtake. He has been competing at a serious level for about twenty years now, and by trying to follow the internal trajectory that leads to the top, and thus control the twist, he has acted this way throughout his career. Generally I don’t comment on the second penalty, but in the first case it was just an example of a tough fight on the court.”