Horner says Verstappen won't be popular in Italy!

Max Verstappen played one of the key roles in today's Japanese Grand Prix. Championship challenger Sebastian Vettel crashed into him early in the race leaving Vettel stationary. At the end of the race, after serving a five-second penalty for another incident, he was pushing Valtteri Bottas for second place but came up short. 

Christian Horner spoke to Sky Sports following the race earlier today. Horner believes the stewards made the correct call by labelling the collision as a racing incident.

"I thought it was a racing incident, the stewards got it right. It was late and opportunistic," Horner said.

Horner went on to confirm he was pleased with Red Bull's pace during the race. The duo finished 3rd and 4th beating both Ferrari's by some distance in the process. 

"Under race conditions we were competitive. We lost some aerodynamic load [in the crash with Vettel] but he was still able to put pressure on Bottas. It felt like something was about to happen but we ran out of laps," Horner continued.

Daniel Ricciardo has just four races left inside a Red Bull. The Australian has had a few frustrating weekends, particularly in qualifying as he has picked up numerous engine troubles. But Horner admitted he would like to see his driver on the podium before the end of his Red Bull career. 

"Hopefully we can have a strong weekend, it'll be nice to see Daniel back on the podium. We are really pinning our hopes on Mexico," Horner concluded.