Christian Horner explains Red Bull strategy as Max Verstappen wins Spanish GP

Christian Horner hailed Max Verstappen as “decisive” and said “he doesn’t mess about” as he won the F1 Spanish Grand Prix.

Verstappen pitted twice and emerged ahead of Lando Norris, then held off the McLaren driver’s late charge.

Verstappen started from P2, behind Norris, but had to excellently overtake George Russell who had himself claimed a brilliant early lead of the grand prix.

Red Bull team principal Horner told Sky Sports: “Max drove a brilliant race today. Strategically we got it just right.

“We went for an optimum race time and it paid off.

“We knew the McLaren would come back with the overlap on the tyre at the end of the race.

“We had just enough in hand. It was so decisive, the first lap was crucial.

“The pass on George was even more important.”

Horner said about the crucial moment of Verstappen’s seventh win in 10 rounds this season: “The start was one element.

“The move he needed to put on George, quickly. Then get the tyres under control.

“I can’t express how difficult that is. One on hand you’re telling the driver to cruise and look after the tyres, but he obviously went for it.

“He got the pass done then executed a perfect race.

“He did it the hard way. Around the outside. Close, hard, fair racing. We were relieved to see that get done.”

Damon Hill said to Horner about Verstappen: “That’s why he gets the big money…”

Horner said about his star driver: “He’s so decisive. He just doesn’t mess about.

“He comes about to traffic and he’s so decisive.

“That’s one of his key qualities. If he’s there, he will go for it. And the other drivers know that.”

'Lando Norris the standout competitor'

Red Bull’s weekend in Barcelona started slowly with an indifferent practice.

Missing pole position raised expectation that Verstappen could be kept away from victory again.

Horner was asked if he believed the RB20 was truly the quickest car of the weekend: “It’s tight. It’s small margins.

“The two of them were circa 18 seconds ahead of the rest of the field.

“Lando had longevity, they went for a slightly different strategy.”

Verstappen, on the other hand, was told to push by Red Bull with around 15 laps remaining.

“We felt, at that stage, that he’d done such a good job at managing the tyres,” Horner said.

“There was only one corner that we could see where Lando was quicker. That was Turn 1.

“The rest, [Max] had it covered.

“So, it was always going to get closer because of the off-set in pitstops.

“But we always felt confident, from the tools that we had, that he had enough in hand.”

Verstappen holds a 69-point advantage at the top of the F1 standings ahead of second-placed Norris.

“Since Miami, Lando has been the standout competitor,” Horner said.

“We’ve had to be at the top of our game to win these races.

“They are tight wins but we keep winning.

“McLaren are doing a great job. Ferrari aren’t far away. Mercedes have made progress, as well.

“We are just keeping our nose ahead.

“It’s important we keep pushing because there is a long way to go.”

Red Bull, as last year’s winners of the drivers’ and constructors’ championships, have less wind tunnel time than their rivals this season.

Is it a factor in Verstappen’s challenges mounting?

“It is all relative. We had a double whammy last year on the tunnel time this year,” Horner answered.

“When you run at the front there is nowhere to hide.

“You get found out. Everything gets scrutinised. Every strategy call, every pitstop.

“It’s a different pressure, a different philosophy that you’ve got to have.

“We’ve done a lot of winning but haven’t lost that edge of getting it right on the day.”

Horner vowed more improvements this season: “We have tremendous strength in depth in the team. And stability long-term.

“What you see now is work that has been done over the past few months. There is more to come.

“On Friday we looked like the fourth quickest car. The engineering team turned it around.”