Horner disagrees with Marko: 'We shouldn't rely on that'

For the first time since the return of the Dutch Grand Prix in 2021, Verstappen is not on pole position in his home race. Lando Norris ran away with the first starting spot. Verstappen gets to prove himself from P2.

Horner happy with Verstappen's result

Verstappen himself was not unhappy with his second starting position. Christian Horner shares that opinion: "Well, he's still on the front row. So, of course, the points are tomorrow. So there's a great lap by Lando. The McLarens are very fast here. But hopefully, we've got our sums right for tomorrow. So, let's see."

Tyre degradation play a part in this. When Horner was asked if he is confident the tyres will last longer than McLaren's, he replied, "I think that's going to be the magic question tomorrow. So, of course, we only have 10 laps of data from yesterday for all of the teams. So the big question is, it's going to be hotter. Is the deck going to be higher tomorrow? So that's going to be a crucial element in tomorrow's race."

Tom Coronel then remarked that Horner is showing confidence. To this, the team principal replied, "We don't know what tomorrow will bring, but we're going to give it a good go. And his strategy will be important. The start's going to be crucial. And yeah, we'll go from there."

Horner disagrees with Marko

Helmut Marko argued that the McLaren's start is not as good as the Red Bull's. However, Horner does not want to assume a bad start for Norris: "They have the clean side of the grid. It's a short run to turn one. We can't just rely on that. I mean, that's one opportunity. But then having the pace, the degradation, the strategy. It's not just about the start. But it would be good to get a good start tomorrow."

This article was written in collaboration with Kada Sarkozi

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