Horner praises Verstappen’s winning performance in a battered car

Max Verstappen went a little too hard over a curb at the start of qualifying, causing some damage to his floor. Despite this, he managed to improve continuously in the rest of qualifying, to squeeze out an ultimate lap – the Dutchman was no less than 0.4 seconds faster than rival Lewis Hamilton.

Team boss Christian Horner praises his star driver: “The bottom of the car hit the curb quite hard, because the cars are so low. Max lost some carbon on the bottom of the car and I think this caused him a few tenths of damage. “

“Max knew very well how to deal with the damage to his car”, says a radiant Horner in conversation with Sky Sports. “Max certainly felt it when he drove over the curb, but he reacted well.”

The Red Bull team principal praises his team and engine supplier Honda: “I think it will be incredibly close tomorrow. The whole team has worked very hard this winter to get us in this position. Honda has done an amazing job.”

“Mercedes has already been written off by everyone, but they are now just there again. They will also be there tomorrow during the race. We are faced with a great challenge to beat them.”

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