Christian Horner admits his ‘heart was in mouth’ after Sergio Perez’s massive first lap crash at Monaco GP

Red Bull had a horrendous weekend at the Monaco GP. Max Verstappen could only manage a sixth place finish in the race. On the other hand, Sergio Perez was involved in a massive first lap incident with Haas drivers Kevin Magnussen and Nico Hulkenberg. Red Bull team boss Christian Horner expressed his views on this clash.

Perez lost control on Lap 1 of the race as he hit the barriers. This put the Mexican driver’s RB20 sideways which led to collision with Magnussen and Hulkenberg. Christian Horner admitted that his heart was in his mouth when the crash came up on the TV screens. Horner claimed that his focus was solely on the safety of the drivers. As Sergio Perez‘s car had just a single tire left after the crash.

It was a horrible-looking accident, and of course, your heart is in your mouth, and at that point, the immediate focus is on the safety of the driver.

Christian Horner said, as reported by RacingNews365

The Red Bull team boss was relieved to see the halo safety device doing its job as no driver was harmed. Moreover, Christian Horner claimed that the most important aspect was to see Sergio Perez walk away unscathed just a few moments after this incident.

Thankfully, cars can be fixed and the structure of the halo and everything did its job. The most important thing was that Checo was able to walk away from a very nasty accident unscathed.

Christian Horner noted

Christian Horner surprised to see no investigation into first lap crash

Race control decided not to take any action on this incident. The stewards have given relative freedom to drivers on the first lap. Subsequently, this collision was deemed as a racing incident. However, Christian Horner was not happy with this decision.

Horner reckoned that he was surprised by the lack of investigation by race control. The Red Bull team boss highlighted that Kevin Magnussen had a wheel out in a narrow part of the track, claiming that the Haas driver should’ve backed out. Moreover, Christian Horner labeled Magnussen’s move as ‘not very clever’ as it destroyed the race of Sergio Perez as well as his teammate, Nico Hulkenberg.

I was surprised it wasn't investigated because it was quite a hefty accident. Kevin had a wheel up the inside of a part of the track that only ever narrows and you would have expected him to back out... He's also destroyed his team-mates race, so not very clever.

Christian Horner concluded

It seems that Red Bull has not blamed Sergio Perez for this collision at least publicly. However, the Mexican driver would need to ensure that he stays away from any incidents in the coming races. As Perez is yet to win a contract renewal from Milton Keynes for next season.

In case you missed it:

• Max Verstappen claims he’s ‘definitely happy’ for Charles Leclerc’s incredible Monaco GP victory
• Lewis Hamilton claims 2024 Monaco GP was ‘one of the dullest of races’ he’s been a part of in his F1 career

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