The 2023 Austrian GP marked the first time Red Bull were racing at their home event since the death of co-founder Dietrich Mateschitz; Max Verstappen won the race and Sergio Perez was third; Watch the British GP live on Sky Sports F1 from July 7-9
Last Updated: 02/07/23 8:07pm
Christian Horner says Red Bull co-founder Dietrich Mateschitz was in the back of his mind when deciding whether to pit Max Verstappen for the fastest lap of the race at the Austrian Grand Prix.
Verstappen was dominating Red Bull’s home event and had more than a pit stop’s gap to Charles Leclerc in second place.
Initially, Red Bull were reluctant to pit the championship leader but Verstappen came in for soft tyres and set the fastest lap on the final lap to take the bonus point.
“It was an outstanding weekend. Max has had tremendous pace all weekend. The strategy we took was slightly different to our competitors so it meant he had to make the overtakes on track as well,” said Horner. “I think he was waving at Charles as he passed him! So a stunning weekend.
“It’s the first time we have been here since Dietrich’s passing. It felt very poignant that it was a great team performance today. We decided to go for the fastest lap on the last lap, despite the risk involved of fluffing a pit stop – it was at the back of my mind, his mantra was always, ‘No risk, no fun’.
“The mechanics have been in such great form that it seemed a low-risk thing in the end.”
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After winning the Austrian Grand Prix Max Verstappen says he wanted to go for the extra point, while Sergio Perez says that the ‘stupid’ track limits affected everybody
He added: “Coming into the circuit this weekend it was very weird not to have him with us. You feel his presence everywhere – whether it’s the hotels you stay in or the investment he made.
“I remember the delight he had in bringing this Grand Prix back to Austria and the passion he had for racing. Whilst he’s not here in person, his presence you can feel it everywhere and looking back here today it would be one he really enjoyed.”
Verstappen didn’t see extra pit stop as a risk
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Red Bull team principal Christian Horner reflected on both of his drivers’ performances this weekend after a great result from the team
Verstappen leads Sergio Perez by 81 points in the championship after picking up every point possible in Spielberg.
The Dutchman says the “car was on fire” and wasn’t worried about Red Bull potentially getting the pit stop wrong.
“To me, it was not a risk but maybe the team were a bit more nervous. I saw the gap and was like, ‘we have to pit. I want to go for the fastest lap’,” he said.
Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez gave Red Bull their fifth double podium of the 2023 F1 season
“From the outside maybe it looks like a big risk but when in the car for me it didn’t feel like a risk at all.”
Horner confirmed team manager Jonathan Wheatley and Verstappen’s engineer Gianpiero Lambiase were “up for it” after a discussion.
“There was a bit of a discussion of risk versus reward because we thought let’s cool the tyres down and do it the easier way of not taking a pit stop, in which 400 things can go wrong in,” Horner said. “Max was making his opinion quite clear that the tyres were f****d. He was quite focused.
“Then you start looking at your risk, do we take the risk on a below-par set of tyres? Or is it actually less risk to take the pit stop and put on a set of softs? In the end, we said ‘let’s take the risk’ and he still had three seconds margin over Charles when he came out of the pit lane.”
Next on the F1 calendar is the big one, Silverstone. Don’t miss the British GP live on Sky Sports from July 7-9
