Red Bull mind games? Christian Horner lifts lid as Japan GP concerns fail to materialise

Christian Horner has explained why Max Verstappen’s fears over Red Bull’s long-run pace didn’t materialise.

Verstappen had expressed misgivings over Red Bull’s long-run pace after both he and Sergio Perez were bested by Ferrari’s average pace during the third practice session, following Friday’s rain-affected practice leading to a more difficult preparation than usual.

Christian Horner: The engineering team did a great job

While Red Bull lagged behind Ferrari by about seven-tenths on average during their race simulations in FP3, there was no evidence of any deficiency once the race itself started – both Verstappen and Perez were able to pull away from the pursuing Lando Norris and, later, the Ferrari drivers as they moved ahead of the McLaren.

Having secured the 1-2, Christian Horner told the media of his joy at responding so well to their disastrous Australian Grand Prix as Verstappen was eliminated with a brake issue.

“It was great to bounce back after the DNF in Australia and, after such a great start to the season, it was important to bounce back quickly,” he said.

“I think that we’ve done that emphatically here in Suzuka this weekend.

“It was a great performance, we had a front-row lockout, a 1-2 finish, the fastest lap, and the fastest pitstop. So overall, it was a great team performance.”

With the concerns over their long-run pace having been a key talking point ahead of the race, Horner said he couldn’t point to one single reason as to why the concerns hadn’t turned into a reality.

“Speaking with the drivers, the car just got better and better through the race,” he said.

“I think, definitely, maybe the temperature helped a little bit and setup changes were beneficial as well.”

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Christian Horner: Conditions being warmer weren’t a disadvantage for us

Carlos Sainz had referred to Red Bull possibly sandbagging on the long run or that Ferrari may have been lighter on fuel, and Horner also pointed to suspicion over fuel loads playing a part in the race pace discrepancy.

“We don’t know how much fuel Ferrari actually ran on Friday to denote exactly what was the difference on those long runs,” he said.

“But, definitely, the engineering team did a great job in tidying up a deficiency on Friday into an advantage on Sunday.”

Asked whether there had been any genuine concerns coming into the Grand Prix, Horner said: “You just don’t know, really, and these tyres seem to be particularly sensitive.

“Definitely, the conditions maybe being a bit warmer, it wasn’t a disadvantage for us.

“I think the good work that the engineers did, supported by Milton Keynes, and the changes that they introduced to the car worked very well on the long run.

“Degradation was very low, and it worked very well.”

As for Verstappen, who came home 20 seconds clear of Perez to clinch his third win from four races, the Dutch driver said changes made after FP3 had transformed the handling of his car.

“Yeah, I was not happy up until basically qualifying, but then we did make some changes,” he said in the post-race press conference.

“And yeah, of course, I cannot go into detail about what we did, but it did help today. And yeah, it made it a lot nicer to drive and a bit more under control.”

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