03/06/2025 09:15
Red Bull team principal Christian Horner has called for discussions to take place after being left to "second-guess" a potential FIA decision that was integral to the furore that swirled around Max Verstappen during the Spanish Grand Prix. Verstappen was left furious after being told over the team radio to hand back a position to Mercedes' George Russell following a safety car restart at Barcelona's Circuit de Catalunya. The four-time F1 champion was already seething at being placed on hard tyres at a pit stop after the safety car had been summoned, whilst all his rivals around him were on softs. Verstappen was left a sitting duck once the race restarted. After being hit by the Ferrari of Charles Leclerc on the main straight, the Dutchman was then immediately attacked by Russell into Turn 1. As to whether Russell had full control of the corner is debatable, yet Verstappen was forced to take the run-off road and returned to the circuit ahead of the Briton. Mindful of what transpired in the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix, when Verstappen was handed a 10-second penalty after not giving a place back to McLaren's Lando Norris, Red Bull swiftly ordered him to let Russell by, fearing the worst again. The 'ramming' incident with Russell that soon followed earned Verstappen a 10-second penalty anyway for causing a collision. Explaining Red Bull's thinking, speaking to the media, including RacingNews365, Horner said: "He was obviously upset because, first of all, he had Leclerc take a swipe at him on the straight, and then he's got dive bombed at Turn 1 by George. "The way that these regulations are, it's all about where that front axle is. The drivers know the rules, and they're the rules that they're playing to. "Now, the argument is, was George under control at that point in time? Would he have made the corner? It was 50-50. He looked like he would have made it. "We've seen so many occasions this year where penalties have been given. We've seen it noted, it's gone to the stewards, and the next thing is, you're expecting to get a penalty. "That's why it was, 'Okay, we're going to have to give this place up'." FIA thinking hard to judge Ironically, the stewards determined in the Turn 1 incident that Russell was not entitled to the corner and there would have been no penalty. "That's where it would be nice, as the referee, as a race director, to either say, 'Play on', or 'You need to give it [the place] back'," remarked Horner. "I think it's very hard for the team, subjectively, to try and make that call because you're going on historical precedents. You're looking at what you have in front of you, and you're trying to preempt what the stewards and the race director are thinking. "It would be beneficial to the teams, in that instance, for the race director to make that call and say, 'You either give it back or you get a penalty', rather than having to try and second-guess what the stewards are going to do." Horner stated there is no feedback from race director Rui Marques when clarifications are sought. "You get nothing back," he said. "You ask the question, but you get nothing back." Asked by RacingNews365 whether that was something that needed to be addressed with Marques, Horner replied: "It's something that should be discussed in the SAC [Sporting Advisory Committee]."
