“I believe that it is inevitable that there was going to be some potential gamesmanship,” Horner defined afterwards.
“It is one thing that we raised after the drivers’ briefing, you recognize, with the Race Director. Simply in order that they had been aware of it as nicely. As a result of it is clear that, you recognize, that type of stuff goes on.
“However Max, I assumed he is been squeaky clear all weekend. He drove an excellent race as we speak.”
Verstappen ran an aggressive technique that noticed him pit early to try to undercut Russell, however to no avail. Even so, Pink Bull had the tempo to beat the McLarens and Ferraris, with Verstappen in a position to rating his fifth podium of the season.
“I believe it was a strong race for us. I imply, the very first thing, we pushed fairly laborious early on, on the medium tyre. The tyre then began to open up. So, I might say the second stint for us was most likely our least aggressive stint,” continued Horner.
“We began to open up and grain the entrance left. However then the final stint was very sturdy and was truly higher than Kimi’s behind, and was just about a match to George forward on 5 or six-lap [younger] tyres.
“I believe it was a really strong race for us. Good factors as we speak. It was a well-executed race from that perspective.”
