“I think it was always a very fine margin”: Red Bull boss Christian Horner believes Max Verstappen would have been overtaken by the Ferraris even if he ignored their strategy call

Max Verstappen was visibly annoyed with his team, who instructed him to go easy on the tyres on his outlap at the 2022 Bahrain GP. 

2021 Champion Max Verstappen had a very difficult start to the 2022 season. He got off on a strong note, qualifying P2 for the race. During the race, he spend the majority of the time trying to get past Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc.

The Red Bull driver had a few chances to get past the Monegasque, and even managed to do so briefly. However, with overtaking supposedly easier, Leclerc immedeately got his place back.

In particular, Verstappen wasn’t pleased with his team holding him back from pushing. After he pitted on lap 13 and 29, his race engineer Gianpiero Lambiase instructed him ‘to bring in the tyres gently in that stint.’

As a result, Verstappen found it even more difficult to get past the Ferrari for Leclerc. He took it to the team radio to vent his anger towards his team’s call.

“Okay, this is now two times that I take it easy on the out lap that when I could have easily been in front. I’m never, ever doing it again,” Verstappen said.

Also read: When Lewis Hamilton consoled a young Charles Leclerc after the latter’s heartbreak at the 2019 Bahrain GP

The Ferraris would have overtaken Max Verstappen anyway, says Red Bull boss

Christian Horner spoke to the media to explain the reason behind Verstappen’s angry radio message. He understands why his star driver was displeased, but insisted that the outcome wouldn’t have been different.

The Red Bull team principal went on to say that Ferrari had a faster car on the day. Even if Verstappen pushed to get past Leclerc, the 24-year old would have overtaken him in the end.

“I think it’s always a fine margin,” Horner said to Sky Sports F1. “He felt that he could have done more. And I think that, combined with a slightly quicker stop, but then the Ferrari had put us very, very close to them.”

“But, even if we’d have made the pass, I think their pace was such that, with overtaking being a little bit easier now, they would have just overtaken. They just had a quicker car today, so congrats to them on their 1-2 finish.”

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