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Horner praises Verstappen's "huge" mental resilience after stunning win
Christian Horner branded Max Verstappen's scintillating victory at the Brazilian Grand Prix as "one of the great drives in Formula 1." The Dutchman faced adversity by starting in P17, but he showed why he is one of the best drivers the sport has ever seen, mastering the trick Sao Paulo conditions in the driving rain to move his way up the grid and take a title-defining race win, his first since the Spanish Grand Prix.
While Verstappen lined up near the back of the grid before the Grand Prix, his title rival Lando Norris started on pole. Many of the thoughts were about the damage limitation that Verstappen could do just to make sure the McLaren driver did not eat into what was then a 42-point lead before the start of the race, making this drivers' championship extremely interesting with three races remaining in the season.
However, while Norris struggled once again and gave up his lead on the first corner, Verstappen had already moved up into the top ten on the first lap. There was only one driver in the ascendancy for the rest of the race. The Red Bull driver was in total control of his RB20, making moves with ease as he sliced through the field and mastered the rainy conditions, while Norris could not close up to George Russell in front. As a result, he finished all the way in P6 while Verstappen swept to victory and took a huge step toward his fourth world title.
Horner proud of Verstappen's "mental resilience"
It was a big win for Verstappen too, not winning since Spain, his longest race-win drought since the 2020 season. Team boss Horner spoke about ending that streak in the finest way possible: "You can see how much it meant to him. I don't think I've seen him that animated on a podium, I can't remember the last time. So it meant a huge amount to him and I really believe that we've witnessed one of the great drives in Formula One today."
The Brit was also hugely impressed by the resilience shown by his driver over the last few weeks, with Verstappen under fire from many media outlets for some of his driving over the last few race weekends. Some drivers may need some support through that, but not Verstappen said Horner: "He is not that type of driver. He works it out for himself. His mental resilience is huge, and that's part of the strength that he has."
But Verstappen also showed his qualify on the track with the pace of the RB20: "It was competitive in the dry yesterday. I think that had we managed to have passed Charles earlier yesterday, he would have been able to get to the McLarens. Already he was showing signs of real competitiveness yesterday. In the wet it performed brilliantly," Horner concluded.
This article was created in collaboration with Ludo van Denderen
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