Horner mediates as Verstappen and Lambiase seek to mend fences after their Hungary fallout.
Max Verstappen and his race engineer, Gianpiero Lambiase, exchanged some pointed remarks during the last Grand Prix in Hungary.
The pair have always maintained an excellent and forthright relationship. However, was there not some static when the Dutchman voiced his annoyance with his ‘fucking strategy’?
Or when Lambiase himself refused to defend his driver on live radio following the collision with Lewis Hamilton, even going so far as to describe Verstappen’s claims of innocence as “childish”…
But Christian Horner, the team principal from Milton Keynes, was quick to reassure everyone. After all, Verstappen is known for his quick temper. And if the relationship with Lambiase is so strong, it’s because both the driver and engineer know they can speak openly and honestly.
“We’ve been working with Max for eight years. He’s a very passionate man. That’s what makes him as good as he is.”
“When he’s frustrated, he vents. We’ve heard it time and again. I’m sure if you had a mic on every Premier League player, you’d hear quite a few colourful complaints… The issue now is that in this sport, there’s a mic before he gets in the car, in the car, and when he gets out.”
“It’s not pleasant to listen to, but he’s a driver who’s very passionate about what he does. There’s a peak with them, then it subsides.”
“GP (Lambiase) and he have a long-standing relationship, they know each other perfectly. We sat down and talked about it on Thursday. I think it was a minor hiccup, and we move on.”
“Thursday was about saying, ‘Okay guys, let’s move on to the weekend.’ The best way to solve a problem is to talk about it, discuss it. That’s what Max and GP did. We’ve already turned the page, we’re focused on this week and we’re trying to head into the summer break in the best possible shape.”
To immediately de-escalate the situation, Christian Horner could have also intervened live on the radio to reprimand Max Verstappen. He chose not to.
Why? Does he fear his driver might switch to Mercedes F1?
“At that point, there was absolutely no reason to do that. You’re just going to inflame the situation. Max gives his all on the track. He races with a lot of passion. Anything you do is just going to fire him up.”
“You need to let him vent. He calms down very quickly. Even when we got to the airport that evening, he was totally calm. Each driver is different. If you listen to Oscar on the radio, he doesn’t say a word. If you listen to Max, he has a different experience.”
Christian Horner acknowledges that Max Verstappen’s strategy at the Hungaroring—to avoid an undercut and attempt an overcut—was flawed.
“The strategy has faced some criticism.”
“What we don’t want is for people to become conservative for fear of getting their heads bitten off. But I think everyone in our team knows Max. We understand how he reacts to situations and, frankly, we are unfazed by it. We thought, ‘Alright, let him speak his mind.’ If we could turn off the radio, we would at that moment. It’s against the rules to do so, therefore, we abide…”
Horner believes McLaren F1 should have handed the victory to Norris…
Rather than overly defending Red Bull’s situation, Christian Horner took the opportunity to exert some pressure on McLaren F1. According to him, the team should have allowed Lando Norris to take the win, without switching positions at the end with Oscar Piastri…
You never know, for the championship!
“Lando is the experienced driver and the number one driver, I suppose. It’s customary to give the lead driver the first pit stop, which could have been easily done with Oscar. After putting a driver in the lead, it’s hard to tell them to go back to second…”
“If the championship is lost by seven points at the end of the year, every point counts at the end of the day. Different teams race in different ways, but Lando is the closest challenger and you have to put your eggs in one basket at some point or another.”
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Verstappen Lambiase Discuss Hungary Clash: Reconciliation Verstappen Lambiase Discuss Hungary Clash: Reconciliation
