Christian Horner has commented on the late-race clash between Max Verstappen and Lando Norris at the Austrian Grand Prix.
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Christian Horner, Red Bull Team Principal, blames Norris’ aggressive overtake during the Austrian GP on the “hangover” effect from the Austrian Sprint Race.
After closing the gap with Max Verstappen, after the final pit stop, Norris launched himself in an aggressive overtake on the Dutchman for the victory, which seemed not far away.
After two failed to overtake manoeuvres on Turn 3, Norris made contact with the three World Champions, which resulted in a DNF for the McLaren driver.
Verstappen also had a puncture, but after a pit stop, he could secure the 5th position despite the 10-second penalty for causing the collision.
The two drivers also got spicy during the Sprint Race, and Horner suggested that there was a sort of cause-effect, as Norris finished second.
He said to the media:
“He [Norris] was getting his elbows out, it was two tough races [in Austria],”
“It’s probably a bit of a hangover from [Saturday].
“Max passed him without DRS into Turn 4, and then he got mugged by his team-mate, so there was probably a little bit of a hangover of that.”
Despite the challenging weekend, Horner was satisfied with the pace compared to Spain.
“It was a shame because we had everything under control,” he remarked.
“I think the final pit stop put Lando back into contention, and then with the advantage on the tyres he had, that was enough to get him into the DRS.
“We had a stronger weekend than Barcelona in terms of car pace and performance.
“If you look at qualifying performance, the sprint race, the first and second stint [in the grand prix], which were like-for-like, tyre-for-tyre, I thought we were in good shape.”
Photo Courtesy of: Red Bull Content Pool
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