Red Bull team principal Christian Horner praised world champion Max Verstappen for quickly getting his emotions in check as he won the US Grand Prix to clinch the 2022 Constructors’ Championship.
Verstappen’s victory in Texas combined with teammate Sergio Perez’s fourth-place finish meant Red Bull moved to an unassailable 656 points to clinch the Constructors’ title.
Red Bull are almost 200 points ahead of Ferrari in second on 469 points, with Mercedes third on 416.
The Constructors’ triumph comes a day after the passing of Red Bull founder Dietrich Mateschitz.
But it wasn’t simple for Verstappen, who was heard fuming on the team radio after a terrible pit stop due to a wheel gun issue on lap 36 saw him drop behind Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc.
“He was obviously pretty upset after the pit stop but very quickly got his emotions in check, got his head down and paced himself so that he didn’t burn his tyres up, and then was able to get the passes done,” Horner said.
“He just got his head down. I thought there was only going to be one outcome of that race, and to win the constructors World Championship after eight long years is incredible.”
The victory was Verstappen’s 13th of the season, having already clinched the title.
Horner added: “I think there is a hunger within him that I have never seen within another driver there is a determination. He is growing, maturing, and hes reading races incredibly well.”
Verstappen won from Hamilton, with Leclerc third. It was a forgettable race for Carlos Sainz who started on pole but crashed out on the first corner after being tagged by George Russell. It was Sainz’s sixth DNF of the season.
“I think driver mistakes are driver mistakes, and the problem is that I paid a price again and it follows a bit the trend of the whole year with lap 1, that it doesn’t allow me to do the race and doesn’t allow me to fight for the win, or doesn’t allow me to keep learning from the car, which is extremely frustrating and disappointing,” he said.
“Theres been so many races where I dont even complete one lap, so that is also difficult to make a step forward on race days, which shows how frustrated I am and how my year has been because the speed is there, but its been just a very poor year in terms of luck and things happening.”
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