Horner Reveals Strategy Behind Verstappen's Rainy-Race Gamble

Red Bull’s daring call to keep Verstappen on track in worsening conditions proved pivotal, as Horner sheds light on their decision.

Christian Horner outlined Red Bull’s reasoning for keeping Max Verstappen on track when the rain intensified at Interlagos. According to him, switching to fresh intermediate tyres offered little advantage, and the likelihood of a safety car or even a race stoppage was high.

“We could see that the weather conditions were becoming dreadful,” Horner stated. “His tyres were in good shape, and a new set of intermediates offered little more than what he already had.”

“We therefore opted for a long stint. Then, of course, our misfortune in qualifying turned into good fortune in the race when the red flag was shown, and the race was neutralised.”

“Subsequently, I’d say the race resumed too soon. He took his time, with Ocon initially pulling ahead before Max started closing the gap. And then, after another safety car, his restart and braking move into Turn 1 on Ocon was remarkable.”

The team made its final decision after testing fresh intermediates with Pérez: “Once again, as on Saturday, he was in a line of cars. At that point, Yuki was in front with Esteban and Charles [Leclerc]. He was in all that dirty air, but we weren’t excessively wearing down the tyres.”

“The tyres were holding up well. We could see from Checo’s stop that the tyres were in excellent condition. That’s why we chose not to pit for a fresh set of intermediates and instead to go longer, knowing heavier rain was imminent.”

“You could see the rain pouring down behind us from the pit wall. At that point, it was all about survival. It’s surprising a safety car wasn’t deployed, or a red flag wasn’t shown, even earlier.”

Having a fresh engine may have benefited Verstappen, but Horner downplayed its significance: “Of course, everything contributes, but I don’t think there was any notable advantage in terms of power or anything else in the wet conditions.”

“All of Max’s overtaking was done on the brakes, not on the straights. We opted to take this engine here because it’s a circuit where overtaking is possible, and we regretted it around lunchtime. Now, we’re delighted with that choice.”

Horner believes Red Bull could have had a strong weekend even in dry conditions: “The team has worked very hard to understand these tyres. It’s variable. Seven days ago, it was a different scenario with Ferrari showing exceptionally low degradation. I think we made a step forward in Austin.”

“Winning the Sprint race didn’t feel like we’d fully capitalised on that weekend. The upgrades we brought, we’ve really started to make the most of them here, as we did last weekend.”