Crimson Bull staff principal Christian Horner suggests Lando Norris was attempting to create a chance to closely affect Max Verstappen’s race of their battle on the Austrian Grand Prix.
Norris was attempting to overhaul Verstappen within the remaining stint of the race after a gradual pit cease introduced the Crimson Bull driver into vary within the battle for the win, and had a number of failed makes an attempt to go at Flip 3. In a single assault, Norris ran extensive in what was his fourth monitor limits violation – incomes him a five-second time penalty – and Horner says that makes the contact that adopted ‘irritating’ from his perspective.
“Clearly we had the race underneath management, there was an eight-second lead and the pit cease put us nearer than we must always have been,” Horner informed SiriusXM. “Lando had the good thing about the newer tire with cooler temps than we anticipated, however then he picked up 4 monitor violations, so he was going to get a five-second penalty, and it simply felt like he was attempting to trigger one thing up at Flip 3.
“So very irritating. Irritating for Max, for the staff, however nonetheless we’ve nonetheless managed to increase leads in each championships, however not the factors we needed.”
The stewards appeared to disagree with Horner’s evaluation as Verstappen was handed a 10-second time penalty for shifting in direction of Norris – who was on the surface within the braking zone – once they collided, however the Crimson Bull staff principal maintained his stance when requested if he felt Norris had initiated contact.
“I felt there was a number of dive-bombing occurring up there,” Horner stated. “I would like to take a look at it once more, I’ve solely seen it dwell so I haven’t seen a replay, however the penalty did appear harsh. However it’s what it’s.”
When reviewing the race in a while Sunday night, Horner additionally pointed to Norris shedding out to Verstappen in a battle through the Dash race as having performed a task in the best way he approached the most recent battle.
“I believe Max is a tough racer, they usually know that. I believe Lando was attempting to make up for [Saturday],” he stated. “It was inevitable that you can see this constructing maybe for a few races. Sooner or later, there was going to be one thing shut between the 2 of them.
“[Norris] was getting his elbows out. It’s two robust racers.
“It’s most likely a little bit of a hangover from [the Sprint]. Max handed him with out DRS into Flip 4, after which he bought mugged by his teammate, so there was most likely a bit little bit of a hangover of that. It was a disgrace, as a result of we had every little thing underneath management. I believe the ultimate pit cease put Lando again into competition, after which with the benefit on tire that he had, that was sufficient to get him into the DRS.”
