Max Verstappen and Red Bull fell to Lando Norris and McLaren at the Miami Grand Prix, but the situation is still far from alarming for the World Champions. The Dutchman and his team still took a lot of points to end the weekend positively and, when it comes time to look at the reasons for second place in the race, relativism takes precedence in Christian Horner’s explanations.
“We didn’t have a good balance of all the weekend”first recognizes the team director, corroborating what we saw and heard during all of the sessions, with Max Verstappen also regularly complaining of a lack of grip.
Also, while he was leading the race after starting from pole position, his small error at the chicane had more serious consequences than expected, causing damage which probably played a role in his difficulties during his relay in hard tires.
“He spun around lap 20 and that caused quite a bit of damage under the car, so we’ll have to look at the exact consequences of that impact.”confirms Christian Horner. “But he had enough pace at that moment, he stood out from Oscar [Piastri] and Lando before having this damage. With the damage, second place is still a good result. We still managed to score the most points among the manufacturers as well. It was a very strong weekend from the team.”
“There was a fair amount in the left rear area of the floor.”he specifies on the extent of the damage. “A pretty important part is missing, and we could see that it was sagging a lot. He lost two and a half tenths in Turn 1 every lap. We don’t know if it’s because of the damage, but when you see the images, basically the car is not designed like that.”
The safety car was largely unfavorable for Red Bull.
Photo by: Andy Hone / Motorsport Images
The other factor that cannot be omitted concerns the intervention of the safety car. Firstly because it allowed Lando Norris to make a “free” stop at the best moment, then because his poor positioning, in front of Max Verstappen, upset the hierarchy.
“I think Lando wouldn’t have had the position on the track”supposes Christian Horner. “Afterwards, could he have overtaken at least a Ferrari and Max? It’s difficult to say.” Red Bull, however, does not pay attention to this episode: “They really should have got in front of Lando, luckily he didn’t get a lap ahead of the whole field. Luckily they fixed the problem. I’m sure the race director had his reasons for ‘send at this time.’
VIDEO – The summary of the Miami Grand Prix
