Horner on Verstappen and Perez: "Have a very open and honest relationship"
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Sergio Perez left Austria with 22 points, finishing second in the sprint race, then a day later, he took third place in Sunday's race. Christian Horner is happy with how his driver recovered from a mediocre Friday at the Red Bull Ring. Horner also discusses the track limits at Spielberg and the duel between Max Verstappen and Perez in the opening lap of the sprint race.
"I think if you look at his pace, particularly when he got clear air, his pace was fine, and the bottom line is when you start down in 15 or so, the amount of time you lose coming through the traffic, you've lost touch with the leader, so that's what you know took any chance in a way of a victory for him today. But his recovery was outstanding." said a satisfied Horner in front of the Sky Sports UK cameras.
Track limits Red Bull Ring
Track limit violations were the topic of conversation over the race weekend. Perez lost his time three times in qualifying, which meant he had to come from P15 on Sunday. But the Mexican was not the only driver to be severely hampered by the track limits, with an awful lot of time penalties handed out to drivers for repeatedly going outside the lines.
“I think the track limit things need to be looked at because it makes us look a little bit amateurish. With so many drivers breaking those limits, it's just too easy, and I think it's something that needs to be looked at here for next year. I think either the kerbs or maybe a bit of gravel on the other side of the kerb could just tidy that up. Nobody wants to see all those penalties coming through, and it's very tough for the drivers.”
Red Bull drivers almost collide
After the sprint race, Verstappen and Perez were not so happy with each other, but only briefly. Verstappen was pushed onto the grass, then moments later pushed Perez very far off the track. But Horner is not too worried about it. "They have a very open and honest relationship, and we discussed this in a debrief, and Checo, I genuinely don't think saw Max there, and he had a wobble in the first turn. Checo said he didn't see him, and we believe that, and Max obviously believes that, so as far as we are concerned, it was already put to bed yesterday afternoon. (Saturday afternoon, ed.)."