Christian Horner denied pitting Max Verstappen a lap earlier late on in the Formula 1 Australian Grand Prix would have granted Red Bull driver an unlikely victory over McLaren.
Verstappen cooly slotted past McLaren’s Oscar Piastri on the opening lap at Albert Park, but a mistake on Lap 17 running deep at Turn 11 to relinquish second place to the Australian.
As the conditions transitioned from wet to dry, Verstappen suffered massively, dropping well back from the McLarens who conserved their Intermediate tyres well.
A Lap 34 Safety Car period triggered by Fernando Alonso’s crash prompted the field to switch to slick Pirelli rubber, Verstappen opting for mediums over the McLaren duo selecting Hard Tyres.
The race momentarily turned on its head at the end of Lap 44 as sudden rainfall saw the two Mclarens run wide with Piastri getting stuck in the grass and eventual winner Lando Norris diving into the pits to put on Intermediates.
Verstappen toured for a further two laps before making his change, surrendering track position to do so and Horner was asked whether stopping earlier would have granted the Dutchman an unlikely victory over McLaren.
“No, we looked at the data,” Horner responded to select media including Motorsport Week.
“He would have still been just behind.
“That’s why we were hoping if the weather… then that would have given us that position.”
Red Bull rolled the dice
Given McLaren had the edge over its rivals in Australia, the late rain shower presented Red Bull with an opportunity.
If it had been brief, rather than rain persisting for several laps, Red Bull’s gamble to stay out longer on the slick tyre would have paid off.
“Yeah, that’s where you’re working with the driver,” Horner said.
“The first two sectors were quicker. The third sector was so much down at that point.
“We knew that the rain wasn’t going to hang around for long.
“If you could just bank that track position, it’s so valuable here because you just can’t overtake. So that’s what we were rolling the dice a little for.
“McLaren were super conservative. Both of their drivers had big moments.
“It looked like it might just play out but, if the rain had veered off, then we could have been lucky.
“But congratulations to Lando. He drove a good race today, and in difficult conditions for all of the drivers.”
Horner concluded on a positive note.
“But we take a lot of encouragement out of that race, and the pace we had at the end,” he said, acknowledging how Verstappen harried Norris in the final few laps.
“The other teams, it was clear what the pecking order was today in terms of pace.”
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