Horner stands up for sleeping Perez: 'It was a stroke of luck'

Christian Horner is satisfied with his team's result for the French Grand Prix. The Red Bull team boss explains why Sergio Perez was sleeping during the restart from the virtual safety car.

In the opening laps of the race, Max Verstappen managed to put title rival Charles Leclerc under pressure. The Dutchman stayed within the Ferrari driver's DRS for laps, but an overtaking move was not forthcoming. "We were trying not to kill the tyres, but we maybe expected the overtake to be a little easier. We just couldn’t get off-turn 6 to get the traction and use the DRS. We pitted early and got the undercut by that stage, and obviously, Charles made his mistake. Thankfully, he was okay," Horner explained to Viaplay.

After that, the race was trouble-free for Verstappen, as he was able to drive comfortably to the finish. Perez's performance was less good, as Lewis Hamilton overtook the Mexican at the start and George Russell passed him in the closing stages of the race. Perez was asleep during the restart of the virtual safety car.

Horner explains Perez moment

"It was one of those frustrating things where, with the virtual safety car, there was an issue with the software, so they were behind it longer than they should have been. When they released it, Checo was right on his delta, but George had obviously backed off, and as he accelerated he didn’t brake his delta. He was going thirty kilometres an hour faster than Checo as the VSC ended. It was another five metres and they would have been at the same pace. It was a stroke of luck," said the Red Bull team principal.

The next race on the calendar is the Hungarian Grand Prix. Horner expects Ferrari to be strong at the circuit. "It’s a different type of track. It’s a track that is going to be strong for Ferrari. We’ve seen that they have been strong the last few races. We need to keep pushing and try to get the best out of every performance. Today was a big day for us."