Red Bull team principal Christian Horner cleared the air between Max Verstappen and his race engineer Gianpiero Lambiase following the profanity-laden exchange between the pair in Hungary.
Horner said Verstappen’s vehement criticism of the team’s strategy was “water off a duck’s back” and they will not avoid taking bold decisions in the future for fear of provoking further criticism.
“The strategy did get a bit of a roasting,” Horner admitted, after Verstappen blasted the team twice for failing to put him before their chasing rivals came in.
“Now what you don’t want is for people to go conservative because of a fear of getting their head bitten off,” Horner told Sky.
“But I think everybody in our team knows Max. We know how he responds to situations and honestly, it was water off a duck’s back. It was like ‘okay, let him have his say’.
“If we could pull the radio out, we would at that point. It’s against the rules to do that so that’s the way it is.”
Verstappen also criticised his car’s handling during the race and repeatedly complained about rivals’ defensive moves. Lambiase told Verstappen he would not be drawn into “childish” arguments over racing incidents.
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After speaking to both, Horner does not believe any long-term damage has been done to the relationship between the pair.
“Max we’ve been working with for eight years and we know that he’s a very passionate guy and that’s part of his make up that makes him as good as he is,” said Horner. “Now, when he gets frustrated then he vents and we’ve heard that many times.
“I’m sure if you had a microphone on every Premiership [football] player, you’d hear some venting. The problem now with where the sport is, is there’s a microphone before they get in the car, one in the car, one when they get out the car.
“Obviously what he was venting about is not nice listening to but it’s a driver that is obviously very passionate about what he does. And it’s a spike with him and then it comes down. GP and him have a long relationship, they know each other inside out. We sat down and we discussed it on Thursday and, honestly, I think it’s a blip and we move on from that.”
Horner, who unusually did not speak on Verstappen’s radio after the race in Hungary, said he did not intervene during the row because “at that point there’s absolutely no point because you’re just going to inflame…
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