“Max Verstappen’s car is absolutely fine”: Red Bull boss says that rear wing repairs in his star driver’s car were just a precaution

Red Bull team principal Christian Horner says that there are no serious rear wing problems in Max Verstappen’s car ahead of the Mexican GP. 

Verstappen was the favorite to take pole position on Saturday’s qualifying session. However that wasn’t to be, as Mercedes ensured a front row lock out for the first time this season. Departing driver Valtteri Bottas set the fastest lap followed by teammate Lewis Hamilton. Max will start the race from P3.

Before Verstappen’s run on Saturday, the cameras focused on the mechanics in his garage who seemed to put some extra attention to his rear wing. A tape was spotted on the right side of the wing which has led to speculation that those problems affected Max’s performance.

Horner on the other hand insisted that it wasn’t the case.  He believes that the issue with the 24 year old’s rear wing was not “very serious”.

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“We saw something in FP3. We just wanted to add a bit of protection into the rear wing,” Horner told. “It was nothing. It was more precautionary than anything else. So nothing that would affect the performance.

“I think that we were just concerned with a bit of fatigue that we’ve seen, nothing serious. But we just wanted to take no risk on it. “The guys will have a good look at it but the modification that has been done has, I think, addressed any concerns.”

Red Bull do not want a repeat of Mexico 2019

Red Bull were favorites to win the last time F1 visited Mexico City. Mistakes made by Verstappen while racing Bottas and Hamilton took the victory away from them. The Milton-Keynes based team will be looking to avoid similar errors this time around.

“We don’t want an action replay of last time,” said Horner. “Max started third, Lewis got very aggressive into Turn 2, and then a puncture screwed the rest of the race.

“You have got to be there at the finish. We still think we have got a great chance in this race, but it’s certainly harder than it was looking perhaps earlier on Saturday.” he concluded.

Verstappen is currently 12 points ahead of Hamilton going into the race this weekend. The Mexican GP will be followed by back to back races in Brazil and Qatar.

Also read: “That was a very good bluff from Mercedes”– Red Bull chief annoyed by Mercedes after they secure front row start for Sunday despite lagging across the whole weekend