Horner: 'It was the epitome of teamwork'
Published on 23 July 2020 by Stefan Meens
Christian Horner, Aston Martin Red Bull Racing's team boss, reflected on a hectic Hungarian Grand Prix, in which Max Verstappen crash on his way to the grid. But thanks to a Herculian effort by his mechanics, the Dutchman was able to start the race and rewarded his team with a deserved second place.
On his own blog on the official Aston Martin Red Bull Racing website, Horner shares his emotions when Max damaged his RB16. "I was watching the out lap on the monitor and saw Max run wide at turn six/seven. He was pushing to find out where the grip was and trying to synchronise eighth gear on the run down to turn 12, which means you have to be flat-out to get that synchronisation. The circuit was more slippery than he thought, and the tyres were pretty cold, nobody could quite believe their eyes when he went off into the barrier."
"Luckily, he managed to keep the engine running and reverse out of the barrier. We were unsure how serious the damage was and had to decide quickly whether to call him into the pit lane, but we made the call to send him to the grid to see if we could get the job done so he wouldn’t lose his grid position. As the mechanics greeted Max’s RB16 at the back of the grid and pushed him through the rest of the field we had no idea whether we would get the work done in time."
Despite the desperate situation, Horner remained remarkably calm: "The funny thing is, I wasn't stressed about it. I felt that if anyone could do the repairs then our mechanics could. It was a race against the clock to get those parts changed, which is a massive undertaking because they are pretty complicated in design. You'd need to be a sensational piano player to be able to work your fingers within the space they had, such is the tight design of these cars. Around five minutes from the cut-off point, the chief mechanic gave me a wink to say it was looking alright and the wheels went on with about 25 seconds to go. Other teams' mechanics clapped our guys off the grid. It was the absolute epitome of teamwork."
Once the race got underway, including Max, Red Bull Racing enjoyed a good afternoon with both their drivers. Max worked his way up to third after the first turn and ultimately finished second. Team mate Alex Albon fought his way to P5. "Once we got over the out-lap incident, the drivers did a great job in the race and the car performed better than expected. Max put the incident out of his mind, that was a real sign of maturity from him. For us to beat the Racing Points, with Alex ahead of Sergio Perez and being able to split the Mercedes was a great salvage when we were staring down the barrel of a very difficult weekend."
Despite the good results, Horner knows RBR need to improve. "Hats off to Mercedes, they have developed a competitive car and we are going to have to go some to catch them but that is the focus of the whole team. We have to address the issues we have but I think RB16 has the makings of a very good car, we just have to make sure we extract the full performance and fix the handling issues."
