“I think that it’s inevitable that there was going to be some potential gamesmanship,” Horner explained afterwards.
“It’s something that we raised after the drivers’ briefing, you know, with the Race Director. Just so that they were mindful of it as well. Because it’s clear that, you know, that kind of stuff goes on.
“But Max, I thought he’s been squeaky clean all weekend. He drove a very good race today.”
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Verstappen ran an aggressive strategy that saw him pit early to try and undercut Russell, but to no avail. Even so, Red Bull had the pace to beat the McLarens and Ferraris, with Verstappen able to score his fifth podium of the season.
“I think it was a solid race for us. I mean, the first thing, we pushed pretty hard early on, on the medium tyre. The tyre then started to open up. So, I would say the second stint for us was probably our least competitive stint,” continued Horner.
“We started to open up and grain the front left. But then the last stint was very strong and was actually better than Kimi’s behind, and was pretty much a match to George ahead on five or six-lap [younger] tyres.
“I think it was a very solid race for us. Good points today. It was a well-executed race from that perspective.”
