Christian Horner feels Max Verstappen win was a ‘slam dunk’ before damage

Picking up damage to the underside of his Red Bull, Max Verstappen lost a “slam dunk” win at Silverstone, says team boss Christian Horner.

Verstappen indeed looked in prime position for a third win in succession when he took the British GP lead away from Carlos Sainz, but his race would unravel from there.

The Dutchman would slow, allowing both Sainz and Charles Leclerc in the other Ferrari through, causing Verstappen to pit with what he believed was a puncture.

It turned out to be bodywork damage picked up from hitting some debris, which looking at TV footage may well have come from Leclerc’s car which had a broken front wing due to earlier contact with Sergio Perez in the other Red Bull.

But the performance loss as a result of the damage meant that Verstappen was unable to contend for victory or even the podium from that point on.

Asked by Channel 4 if the debris responsible had come from Leclerc’s car, Horner replied: “I haven’t seen the debris yet, there was so much going on, a bit of debris out there and unfortunately really unlucky for Max, because I think he would have been a slam dunk today.

“But it was a great race. It was an exciting race.”

Red Bull decided to switch Verstappen to the hard tyre, a move which backfired as Verstappen complained that it was like “driving on ice”.

A Safety Car later in the race would allow for a switch to the softs as Red Bull rolled the dice, but ultimately P7 was Verstappen’s finishing position.

Explaining the decision to put Verstappen on the hard tyre, Horner said: “The race suddenly changed, we’re suddenly racing [Sebastian] Vettel and [Mick] Schumacher and guys that we’re not usually around, so it was a matter of then adapting to ‘right, okay, what’s our fastest route to the end of the race? We’ve got to cover those guys’.

“So we went onto the hard [tyre] and the plan was to go to the end of the race, and then the Safety Car came out and it was like ‘well Max is really struggling out there, chuck a set of softs on and let’s see what we can do’.

“And he made a couple of passes and a great restart and P7 was probably the hardest P7 he’s ever fought for today.”

Verstappen certainly was not a happy bunny on the radio as his race fell apart in the wounded RB18, the team assuring him that the car could continue, but the full level of performance would not be there.

But Horner said that it is a given that Verstappen will always be putting “110%” into every…