F1 News
Horner expects Hamilton to change engine: ''Think that's what's going to happen'
- GPblog.com
A good race and the right choices at the right time with the rain in the last part of the race, ensured Max Verstappen climbed from 20th to second place in Russia. However, during the race, not everything went as expected.
Catch-up race takes its toll
The Dutchman quickly worked his way through the field and when he made his pit stop on lap 26, Verstappen was in fifth place. The Red Bull Racing driver's race took its toll, however. "The plan was to go on longer," Helmut Marko told Auto Motor und Sport. "But the overtaking race put too much strain on the tyres. Even his medium tyres, before it started raining, were quite worn out."
"Max only had a few laps with a free lane," Christian Horner adds. "In those he was pretty fast. Behind other cars you just ruin your tyres. Especially in turn three." The rain, therefore, came as a godsend and by switching to the intermediate tyre in time Verstappen managed to climb from seventh to second place.
Engine penalty eliminated
Verstappen and Red Bull were obviously very happy with the unexpected podium finish. "That was much more than we could have hoped for beforehand," said Horner. "We got the engine penalty out of the way and with Max we are only two points behind Lewis [Hamilton]. That's encouraging for the rest of the season." Also encouraging is that Hamilton is likely to have to use a fourth engine and so will have to start from the back. "With all the changes to the engine that their customer teams have made, you would think that would happen".