today, 01:11 | by Mark Hanselman
Red Bull Racing team boss Christian Horner does not seem to be worried yet after his drivers missed out on a spot on the front row of the Mexican Grand Prix. Ferrari was surprisingly the fastest team in Q3, but Horner sees three of his drivers behind the Ferrari duo.
Few people will have seriously counted on Ferrari for Q3. “Even they were surprised,” Horner laughs in conversation with Viaplay. Carlos Sainz moved on to Q3 in ninth place in Q2. ‘They seemed to be struggling in Q1 and Q2. They both set a very strong time in their first Q3 lap.’
Max Verstappen then got another chance, but the 26-year-old Limburger was just not fast enough for a spot on the front row. ‘They couldn’t improve in their second attempt. We managed to go a little faster in the last run, but it was just not fast enough. My congratulations go to them, they were the fastest in a very confusing session. It is also good to see both Daniel Ricciardo and Checo (Pérez, ed.) in fourth and fifth place.’
Verstappen has a good starting position
Verstappen has already started first, second and third in Mexico in the past, and each time he came out of the first corner combination as the leader. In addition, Leclerc was unable to capitalize on his last ten pole positions, so Horner is not really concerned about the Dutchman’s race. “It’s fine for him, and I think we have a good race car, so they should stay out of trouble on the first lap.”
The 49-year-old Brit also knows that the first starting spot is no guarantee of success here. ‘You could even say that you don’t want to have pole position here, with that very long run-up to the first corner. It will be interesting whether the Ferraris will drive in formation, but we saw a few years ago that the circuit is very wide, so it could be a very exciting race.’ Horner is referring to 2021. At the time, Red Bull feared that Mercedes would keep the door closed to Verstappen with Lewis Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas, but the Dutchman still managed to take the lead with a braking action on the outside.
Horner laughs off research
Verstappen also has to report to the race management because of driving slowly in the pit lane, something that many other drivers also did during qualifying. ‘I would be surprised if something happens with that. Max didn’t come to a stop. It’s not ideal, and they need to investigate the root cause of the problem, and ask why the drivers want to drive so slowly in the pit lane. Everyone does this, so it will be busy with the race stewards,” laughs Horner.
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2023-10-28 23:11:00
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