Red Bull team principal Christian Horner has downplayed recent interactions between Max Verstappen and Gianpiero Lambiase (pictured above with Verstappen), saying the championship leader “would break many race engineers”.
Verstappen dominated the Belgian Grand Prix weekend but was angry at what he believed to be poor execution during qualifying that led to a strong response from his race engineer. Lambiase – commonly referred to as ‘GP’ – also issued some warnings to Verstappen during Sunday’s race but Horner says it’s the sort of approach that is required for someone of the Dutchman’s character.
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“That’s been going on for about six years!” Horner told SpeedCity Broadcasting. “Max is a tough customer and he would break many race engineers. You’ve got to have somebody who’s got self assurance to deal with that. GP is our Jason Statham equivalent, and there’s a trust and a bond between the two of them. Sometimes it sounds like they need a bit of marriage counseling but there’s a great respect and a great trust between the two of them.“I think as any top sportsmen, they lean on the people around them and I think GP is the one having that interaction.”
Later asked if Lambiase sometimes believes Verstappen is pushing harder than he really is, Horner says the race engineer has the best understanding of his driver’s limits.
“I think there’s sometimes an element of that. But what you have to remember is the engineers and the performance engineers, they’re living and breathing all the data they have in front of them, they can see, and they know their drivers’ driving style, they know what they’re taking out of the car and so on.
“I was asking GP, ‘I know what he’s doing here, he’s trying to build a gap up for a pit stop’, and GP said ‘Look, I think he’s taking it pretty easy, the metrics are massively under control’. So it’s having that trust and bond that’s so important, which is what those two guys have.
“Sometimes it gets a bit sparky between the two of them. But Max is the kind of character that will rev very quickly and it’ll come down very quickly. GP doesn’t forget so quickly.”
Horner also refutes any suggestion that Red Bull is getting cocky with its advantage after Verstappen’s radio message about some pit stop practice, as he didn’t want any risk to be taken when it came to chasing the extra point for fastest lap.
“No, that’s why we didn’t take the stop, because we didn’t want to get too greedy. We won the sprint race, a one-two finish (on Sunday). We didn’t want to end up with egg on our face, compromising that in any way. So to give away one point, I don’t think anybody will lose too much sleep over.”