29 August 2023 , 15:02
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Red Bull chief Christian Horner said it was a "no-brainer" to pit Max Verstappen first at the Dutch Grand Prix and undercut team-mate Sergio Perez.
Verstappen enjoyed a victorious homecoming as he won a record-equalling ninth consecutive Grand Prix in Zandvoort. However, he had to recover from a tricky start and there was controversy when he undercut Perez while the Mexican was leading the race.
The decision sparked suggestions of favouritism from Red Bull and allowed Verstappen to overtake Perez and regain the lead. And Horner has now explained the decision was made due to concerns that Fernando Alonso and Pierre Gasly would undercut Verstappen.
"We were a bit unsure of what was going to happen with the weather," Horner said. "It was a few spots [of rain], was it going to blow through? In the end, I was shouting at GP [Verstappen's race engineer Gianpiero Lambiase], 'Get him in!'
"At one point, [Verstappen] took seven seconds out of [Perez] in three laps, and was coming very, very fast. Then you get to that awkward point of the crossover, and [Fernando] Alonso and [Pierre Gasly] were behind him and had pulled the trigger and pitted.
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"You could see from [Alex] Albon suddenly the circuit was coming alive for slicks, so had we pitted Checo first, they would have both undercut Max. So we would have gone from a net one-two to a net one-four.
"We pitted Max first, with the risk being that he'd undercut Checo, but we'd end up with first and second as a team, so it was a no-brainer." Horner also hailed Verstappen as "simply untouchable" as he eyes a third consecutive F1 world title.
Christian Horner has revealed the reasons behind Red Bull's decision to have Max Verstappen undercut team-mate Sergio Perez (Getty Images)"Max is in a period of his career where he's simply untouchable," he said. "I don't think there's any driver on the grid that would be able to achieve what he has been doing in that car.
"Being his team-mate is probably, in some respects, the most enviable job to have, because the barometer is so high. Checo's pace in the race was strong again today.
"We saw drivers miss the cut completely yesterday and not even make Q3 when you would have expected them to. It's very, very difficult and what we're witnessing at the moment is a driver who is generational."