“We rolled the cube a bit of bit at the moment,” Horner defined after the race. “Beginning on the arduous [tyre] our tactic was all the time to go lengthy, with the principle alternative being Security Automobiles or purple flags, which might typically be the case right here.
“Max led giant parts of the race, however it was a kind of Monacos the place everyone just about behaved. So, yeah, the primary cease, we bought fairly near Oscar at one level. He had a wobble on his second lap out after his pit cease however we might have been at finest alongside, so we determined, look, we’ll hold going, let’s hold going.
“The upside was, if there’d have been a Security Automobile or purple flag, Max would have led. Then, once more, we had the medium tyre [for the second stint], went very, very lengthy, clearly stopped on the final lap, and once more, you are simply hanging out for a Security Automobile or VSC [Virtual Safety Car] or purple flag at that time.”
Reflecting on the technique of Verstappen’s staff mate Yuki Tsunoda – who began from P12 on the grid and ended the race down in P17 – Horner added: “For Yuki, we did the inverse – Lap 1 initially seemed like he would get a major profit from it, however then everyone began to drive extraordinarily slowly as they began to mess around with the techniques.
