Red Bull Racing Team Principal Christian Horner was over the moon with the team’s performance at the Italian Grand Prix on Sunday, at a track the Milton Keynes based squad consider to be one of their bogey venues performance wise.
“We knew coming to Monza that this would be the most challenging circuit on the calendar for us.
“This weekend was all about trying to limit the damage and I think we’ve optimised our performance today with two very strong drives from our drivers.”
Driver Max Verstappen had issues at the start of the grand prix, which saw him bog down off the line and lose a number of places to drivers coming through behind him, at the start of the race. Horner was pleased with the way the Dutchman made his way back through the field however, to come home in a strong points scoring position.
The 42-year-old was also highly praising of Daniel Ricciardo’s pass on Williams Martini Racing driver Valtteri Bottas, which saw him move into fifth place in the closing stages of the race.
“After a difficult start for Max, who got an anti-stall, he recovered extremely well to finish seventh, and Daniel finished well in P5 after an outstanding passing move on Valtteri Bottas.”
Horner believes it was a strong weekend for Red Bull, who are now eleven points clear of Scuderia Ferrari in the Constructor’s Championship, cementing themselves further into second place.
Heading to Singapore and beyond, to circuits that will better play to the strengths of the RB12, and considering they have achieved their current lead at tracks that do not really suit them, Horner is extremely confident of a strong end to the season for Red Bull Racing.
“To be leaving Europe 11 points ahead of Ferrari in the Constructors’ Championship heading to circuits that hopefully suit our strengths more than here, means this has been a positive weekend.”
