As F1 moves on from the Austrian GP chaos, both Red Bull and McLaren are understanding what transpired in a better way. Christian Horner has called out his Red Bull pit crew’s incompetence as they were extremely slow in completing the pit stop for Max Verstappen. As a result of the slow pit stop, Verstappen lost crucial seconds from his lead and gave Lando Norris the impetus to attack him. With Norris attacking Verstappen lap after lap, the two ended up colliding, something which Horner believes could have been avoided if his pit crew were able to service the Dutchman faster.
Sky Sports F1 pundit Martin Brundle asked Horner whether the decision of Norris’ five-second penalty and the following pit stop added a bit of chaos at Red Bull. Horner replied,
“If that call had come 30, 40 seconds earlier, we’d have obviously informed Max, but you just don’t know at the time, and ifs, buts, and maybes, but, what really put us in that position was a slow pit stop, you know, otherwise he would have been seven seconds up the road.”
One battle, two different viewpoints ️️#F1 #AustrianGP pic.twitter.com/5aUbIoTVG4
— Formula 1 (@F1) June 30, 2024
Precisely, Red Bull‘s slow stop at the second round of pit stops cost Verstappen immensely. The pit crew took 6.5 seconds to service the three-time champion’s car and that allowed Norris to close the gap at the front. As Horner said, if it wasn’t for the slow stop, Verstappen would not have fallen into Norris’ vicinity.
Regardless, the Austrian GP is a matter of the past as both sides are now coming clean with honest assessments of their mistakes and learnings. With Norris and Verstappen having exchanged several comments, it all seems to have cooled off between them.
Tensions seemed to have cooled off between Norris and Verstappen
Ahead of this weekend’s British Grand Prix, both Norris and Verstappen confirmed that they had no hard feelings towards each other after their contact in Austria. Norris even went to the extent of admitting that he may have overreacted in the heat of the battle.
The British driver stated, “Definitely my adrenaline side probably got a little the better of me in a few of the comments. I don’t think everything I said was probably as correct as what it should be”.
However, Norris knows how he battled Verstappen hard but fair in that entire battle. Yet, he might have made a few tactical errors to give the Dutchman the upper hand. Meanwhile, even Zak Brown has suggested that Norris needs to avoid getting into a similar position that may compromise his race while battling Verstappen.
