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Horner compliments Verstappen and Piastri: "Very strong drive"
Christian Horner saw Red Bull Racing also convert the third sprint race of this season into a victory. That was thanks to Max Verstappen, as Sergio Perez did not reach the finish line. Horner talks about his team's sprint race and also briefly praises Oscar Piastri.
"Checo had an amazing stop and great release that got him ahead of the Ferraris and Lewis so that elevated him to fourth," Horner told Sky Sports. For a moment, a podium finish seemed even in the cards for the Mexican, but after a duel (and contact) with Lewis Hamilton, he lost many places, the veteran ended up in the gravel and sent his RB19 back into the pit box.
The fight with Hamilton caused damage to the Red Bull car. "Unfortunately the contact, left front to sidepod has put a big hole in [Perez's] sidepod and then you lose so much downforce. You could see he lost so much performance and we had no choice but to retire the car. That was very unfortunate," the team boss explained.
Verstappen back in P1
Verstappen had to fight for it, but thanks to a neat overtake on Oscar Piastri in the first sector, he crossed the line first for the eleventh time in 2023. "Very strong drive again by Oscar Piastri again," Horner complimented the McLaren driver. "Max commented he saw Oscar used the tyres quite hard and that maybe made it easier for him to convert the win."