Red Bull managed to capitalize on the penalty imposed on Lewis Hamilton for the use of the fourth engine, even if only in the drivers’ standings. Max Verstappen is in fact back in the lead of the World Championship and has six points ahead of his rival. In words, team principal Chris Horner he said he was happy with the double podium obtained by the Dutch and Sergio Perez, but perhaps the British – in his heart – hoped to be more competitive on a track that has instead winked at Mercedes since Friday. To the point that Horner asked the FIA for clarification in the face of Brackley’s data. And although the Federation has not found anything irregular in the Mercedes power unit on the functioning of the plenum, the English team principal continues to have doubts.
Beyond this, Horner focused on the performance of his two drivers, who achieved the maximum in Turkey, finishing behind an unrivaled Valtteri Bottas: “A double podium for us was a great result to get out of this weekend. Max has regained the top of the drivers’ championship on one track that is traditionally good for Mercedes, we limited the damage and it was a great team effort, given the many points obtained in the constructors’ standings (actually they lost three from Mercedes, ed). The championship lead keeps changing hands and for the rest of the year we will be incredibly close, we have some great races coming up and it is good to put the Mercedes under pressure. For us, the crucial moment in Turkey was when we got Perez back to the pits: we could have kept him out to keep Lewis behind, but we decided to stop him because we didn’t believe Hamilton’s tires could make it to the end of the race. Checo did an amazing job: He went wheel to wheel with Hamilton and actually ended up in the pit lane when Lewis knocked him out, and then it was an endurance race when Hamilton overtook him for a moment. The next race in Austin is a good track for Hamilton, so we need to be at the top of our level; it’s great to be in this fight and the whole team is really enjoying it“.