Christian Horner says Max Verstappen is comfortable with the outcome of Friday morning’s informal discussion with Charlie Whiting about his defensive moves in Spa.
The Dutchman, who viewed TV footage of Spa with Whiting, has said little about what transpired, although Whiting has indicated that he could have been given a black and white warning flag.
“I think he’s happy with where he’s at, what he’s seen,” said Horner. He’s only 18, he’s in his third year of car racing, and he’s learning all the time. He hasn’t picked up a single penalty yet. We only deal with facts, not ifs and buts.”
Horner suggested that Verstappen was frustrated because Raikkonen had delayed handing back the place after he’d gone off track the previous lap.
“What I hadn’t appreciated was there was a bit going on the previous lap as well, where he was expecting the place to be given back earlier [by Raikkonen], and of course that all contributes to the robust defence.”
Meanwhile Horner concedes that this weekend in Monza will be about damage limitation for Red Bull.
“We expected coming here that of all the tracks on the calendar it was probably going to be our biggest challenge. It’s actually been a respectable Friday, we’ve got data from all three compounds, so plenty to look at tonight. Let’s see tomorrow. I’d say we’re about where we expected to be at the moment.
“The likelihood is that Mercedes and Ferrari will be ahead here, so we obviously have to try and limit the damage. That is what this weekend is all about before some circuits come up that hopefully suit us a bit better.”
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