Red Bull team boss Christian Horner reveals that his team approached race director Rui Marques ahead of the Canadian Grand Prix. The conversation with the Portuguese official was prompted by various comments from rival drivers, including George Russell, about potentially provoking a penalty for Max Verstappen. The Dutchman is just one penalty point away from a suspension, and Red Bull wanted to do everything possible to prevent their star driver from being unable to start in Austria.
Max Verstappen managed to finish second in the Canadian Grand Prix without too much damage. The driver was warned ahead of the race by advisor Helmut Marko to ‘do nothing wrong’ in Montreal, as he already has eleven of the allowed twelve penalty points on his racing license. One more penalty point in Montreal could have resulted in a suspension for Red Bull’s home race, the Austrian Grand Prix. Fortunately for both Red Bull and Verstappen fans, nothing happened. However, team boss Christian Horner did not trust this to be the case beforehand.
The Brit reveals that Red Bull spoke with race director Rui Marques ahead of the race to express their concerns about Verstappen’s rivals. The Austrian team was worried that the other drivers might try to provoke the Dutchman into a penalty. This could then result in a race suspension for Verstappen. Therefore, Red Bull approached Marques on the Friday of the Canadian Grand Prix, after the drivers’ briefing.
Russell’s Role
“I think it was inevitable that there would be some potential gamesmanship,” Horner explains to The Race. “It’s something we discussed with the race management after the drivers’ briefing. This allowed the FIA to take it into account. It was clear that these kinds of things can happen. However, Max had no issues all weekend and he drove a very good race. We simply said to him (Marques): ‘Look, could you please keep an eye on it. Because there have clearly been comments made in the media’.”
The Red Bull team boss seems to be referring to George Russell‘s statement after the qualification with his last remark. “I can still afford a few penalty points,” said the Mercedes driver when asked about a possible opening fight with Verstappen. In the end, the concerns were for nothing, and Verstappen drove neatly as second behind Russell across the finish line.
