“Go to the bookies if you want to see who the favourite is” – Red Bull Racing team principal Christian Horner confident Max Verstappen will not indulge in a verbal duel with Mercedes champ Lewis Hamilton.
Max Verstappen is rising to the occasion of being a mega-star this season, taking on Lewis Hamilton fiercely. He has, however, restrained from any verbal duel with the reigning champion, for now.
All the talks about Hamilton vs Verstappen, but today and so many days it’s Toto besting Horner
— Tomasz Mortimer (@TomaszMortimer) May 9, 2021
His bosses Christian Horner and Helmut Marko are taking care of that, instead, with Toto Wolff also letting his feelings known on Red Bull Powertrains. Horner has suggested it will be status quo beyond the race track when it comes to the outspoken Verstappen, as per ESPN.
“Max will do his talking on the track.
“Lewis has demonstrated he’s capable of, excuse my French, dropping a b****ck occasionally. He’s capable of making a significant mistake, as we saw at Imola, and he just got very lucky that he wasn’t a lap down and didn’t pay a bigger price for it.”
“Look, they can all make mistakes and we’re at the non-pressured stage of the championship at the moment. As we get to the business end it will count for more. When five races are left and if there is still the points difference there is now [14 in Hamilton’s favour], that’s when the pressure mounts up – not at this stage.”
Hamilton has won 3 out of the four races so far, and it looks increasingly likely he will take home the record 8th title this season. Now it is for Verstappen to decide if he wants to stick with Red Bull, or twist to Mercedes, with Wolff looking to prey on him.