“Massively frustrating call for the whole team,” Christian Horner dwells on Red Bull’s error that cost Max Verstappen P1
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Christian Horner
Christian Horner, the Red Bull Team Principal, after Red Bull’s qualifying error, has talked about it and indicated how frustrating it is for the whole team.
Red Bull did not put enough fuel into Max Verstappen’s car during the Q3 session of qualifying and because of it, he had to let go of a flying lap that would have seen him on the front row for today’s race.
Max Verstappen on his final Q3 attempt was going at the speed of knots and was setting purple sectors, however, all his progress came to a halt when the Red Bull pit wall came on the radio and asked him to abandon his lap.
At that time, it was a perplexing call for Max Verstappen, and Christian Horner while shedding light on the whole fiasco said, “A phenomenal result for Checo, his best ever performance here in Singapore, and huge frustration with Max.”
“He was on a lap that was a second-and-a-half up, I think, on what the pole [time] was.”
“So it was our mistake. Basically, with the track ramping up we assumed five laps would be the maximum we could do, and we actually managed to get to a position where we won ourselves a sixth lap.”
“But the fuel was going to be too close to the limit and rather than starting from the pit lane we elected to abort the lap, which is obviously a massively frustrating call for Max, for the whole team.”
“And obviously relegates him to eighth, but better than starting from the pit lane. With the pace we had, I’m sure he can make great progress from there.”
Christian Horner has backed Max Verstappen to win the Singapore Grand Prix
Max Verstappen after Red Bull’s quali blunder is going to start from P8 on the grid, and while the Marina Bay Circuit is a tricky place to overtake, Horner is confident about the 25-year-old’s chances of securing a win under the lights.
Moreover, he believes that the ability of the 2022 cars to follow in close quarters of other cars will help Verstappen in making the slick moves that he is known for all over the globe.
Horner while dwelling on it, said, “It makes life a lot harder with the nature of the circuit here, but what we’ve seen with these cars is you can overtake and make progress.”
“The one thing we know with Max is he’ll give it everything. And it’s a tough race, the hardest, longest race of the year here. And the weather could do something interesting as well. So there will be plenty of opportunity.”
“So whilst a huge disappointment today, opportunity to hopefully turn it around tomorrow.”
Christian Horner is confident about his starlet’s chances in Singapore, and further believes that the quali setback is going to motivate Verstappen to give his all and show why he is in the prime position to win the 2022 F1 World Championship.
Horner added, “Absolutely, he’ll deal with that and he won’t dwell on it. “I’m sure he’ll get up with even more renewed determination for tomorrow.”
“It was our mistake, it just shows sometimes how fine these things are.”
Horner has admitted that the Max Verstappen incident was a mistake on part of the team but feels that no one is too fussed about it, as everyone in the team knows that such things can happen with anyone.
Starting from P8, Max Verstappen has got a huge task on his hands, and considering the history of the Marina Bay Circuit, how much further up the grid would Max Verstappen be able to move during the Singapore GP?
Also Read: Why Max Verstappen abandoned the last qualifying lap? Red Bull explains
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