Verstappen's team radio calmer than in Hungary: 'Very mature race'

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Christian Horner on Max Verstappen's behaviour at Zandvoort
25 August at 19:01
  • Sandy van Wijngaarden

Max Verstappen showed great maturity after being beaten by more than 22 seconds by Lando Norris at Zandvoort. In Hungary, the Dutchman reacted quite differently to the struggles with his Red Bull car. Team boss Christian Horner explained why after the race.

The biggest problem Verstappen encountered during the Dutch Grand Prix was tyre wear. In Hungary, the dysfunction of his Red Bull caused much more frustration, which was broadcast on the radio. At Zandvoort, the team radios remained relatively calm in comparison.

Verstappen showed his good side at Zandvoort

In a media event with GPblog and others, Christian Horner explained where this difference came from. "He knew that Lando just had a quicker car today and actually saw that from Friday. So I think he drove a very mature race where he wanted to ensure that he was conceding seven points to Lando, but he didn't want to concede more than that. So he just made sure that he delivered the result that he needed."

This mature thinking is something Horner believes we will see more often from Verstappen during the rest of the season. "I think that you've got to drive with the championship in mind. And there's been, what, seven different race winners this year. If you can't win, then you've got to be scoring the points."

"Obviously it's not nice to be beaten by 22 seconds, but it just shows when you get things right in your car in the window, as we saw earlier in the year, that kind of result is possible. So it doesn't scare us in any way, it just focuses the mind that, ‘OK, you know, we need to turn this around, we need to get it right," Horner said.

This article has been written in collaboration with Matt Gretton