By Sergio Silva
May 6, 2024, 12:57 PM EDT
The second place achieved on Sunday by Max Verstappen in the Miami Grand Prix did not leave very good feelings in the Dutch driver who complained about the incident he carried out with his teammate in Red Bull, Sergio “Checo” Pérez at the start, which he believes could have affected his performance in the race.
But the director of the Austrian team, Christian Horner, does not think the same as the three-time F1 world champion and considers that the difficult moment caused by the Mexican driver in the first moments of the race did not interfere with the European’s performance. in the test that the British McLaren driver, Lando Norris, ended up winning.
“With (Verstappen’s) car back in the garage, we found that the floor was damaged and had a hole that could have been caused by hitting the cone (possibly on lap 22). “Max lost 2.5 tenths on each lap in Turn 1. Whether it was due to the damage, looking at the photos, (the car) was not designed like that.”explained the Red Bull boss.
Christian Horner continued analyzing the overall performance of Max Verstappen who, in addition to second place in the Miami Grand Prix, also took first place in the sprint race that took place on Saturday. Additionally, the 26-year-old Dutch driver took pole position on both occasions.
“I don’t think we had great balance all weekend. Obviously he hit the bollard around lap 20 and that really caused quite a bit of damage to the underside of the car, so we’ll have to see exactly what the effect of that was.considered the Red Bull boss who continued to blame “Checo” Pérez.
The Mexican driver of the energy drink team finished in fifth place on Sunday, but this Monday he rose one position after the sanction received by the Spaniard from the Ferrari team, Carlos Sainz Jr., of five seconds less penalty for having caused a blow to Oscar Piastri of McLaren, which forced him to enter the pits.
Max Verstappen rules out the cone option
The three-time Formula 1 world champion was clear in his opinion about what he considers could have affected his performance in the Miami Grand Prix where he took second place, this being the second time this season that he has been left out of the top of the championship. podium in six races held so far.
“I didn’t feel any different, so I don’t know. Maybe he was already damaged. I don’t know. I mean, I hit that thing and then my pace was the same, so I didn’t really know if there was damage.”commented the Dutchman, implying that the incident with Sergio “Checo” Pérez at the beginning of the race could have affected his performance.
Keep reading:
– Sergio “Checo” Pérez rises to fourth place in the Miami Grand Prix after the sanction received by the Spanish Carlos Sainz Jr.
– Stays? Max Verstappen calms the waters at Red Bull amid rumors about his possible departure from the Austrian team
– Who is Lando Norris, the descendant of a British billionaire who won his first race in Formula 1 in Miami?