Formula 1 Red Bull Racing Team boss Christian Horner has impressed Max Verstappen for the way he had conducted himself in the heat of their battle in the Hungarian Grand Prix on August 3.
Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton won the F1 race in Hungary. He catches Verstappen on lap 67 of 70 to win the race. However, Horner believes Verstappen had given his all but was powerless.
“I think he has driven with great maturity. Even at the end of the race, to lose the race with four laps to go is hugely frustrating.” Horner said.
“But I think he gets the bigger picture, knew the situation we were in and understands how the race is being read because to the layman it may seem that Red Bull got their strategy wrong. We didn’t.
“Mercedes just had the quicker car and the ability of a free pit stop opened up to them. He had the maturity immediately to understand what that situation was, and I think he has really come of age this year.” Horner added.
Hamilton enjoyably leads the drivers’ standings and his team Mercedes have a fair margin in the constructors’ championship. He is 62 points clear of team-mate Valtteri Bottas, and already 70 ahead of Verstappen.
“I think Lewis is now over 70 points ahead, which is close to a three-race advantage with nine to go. So basically, Lewis would have to not turn up for three races, if his cough comes back or something or he gets athlete’s foot, it’s hugely unlikely.” Horner said.
“They would have to mess up by gargantuan proportions not to win this championship. But our target for the rest of the year is to close that gap at races like (Hungary) and hopefully some races will work out the other way around for us like they did last weekend.
“And as we get more performance on the car, Honda make progress, this is very much a building year as we get to 2020.” Horner added.
