F1 | Red Bull, Christian Horner: “Better to start eighth than from the pit lane”

Crazy qualifying for Red Bull who makes their first big mistake of the season. Not that this stain can undermine Max Verstappen's second title - it's just a matter of time - but certainly the mistake acquires even more resonance on a weekend where Christian Horner's team is under heavy accusation due to the financial balance. Budget cap aside, if on the one hand the wall was perfect with Perez, making the right choices - as stated by the Mexican himself, on the other hand there were calculation errors which, considering the situation, also make you smile a little , inviting fans to more than a few jokes. Red Bull sends Verstappen onto the track with enough fuel to complete five flying laps; the track, however, continues to improve and during the penultimate attempt - twenty seconds left on the clock - the wall tells Verstappen to abort the lap. At that moment, however, Max has no great attempts on his side, as he remains at the bottom of the rankings. The world champion relaunches himself, but at the end of the third sector the other communication arrives: Verstappen has to return to the pits, there isn't enough fuel. The choice was between eighth position and the pit lane, and Red Bull chooses, getting the times wrong, provoking the wrath of the driver who lashes out at his team after qualifying: "These are things that I cannot control, the team has to do it".

“It was a qualifying of ups and downs. First of all, Checo did a splendid job, he will start on the front row for the first time here in Singapore, he will be able to have a good race. He also had a good pace, so hopefully we can get a good start, we are in a good position. As for Max, the track continued to improve and we calculated that we could do a maximum of five laps, but while we were trying for the fastest lap, the fuel level was still at the limit – Horner explained – rather than start from the pit lane, we decided to let him abort the lap, and it was really frustrating for Max and the whole team. This choice relegates him to eighth position, but still better than starting from the pits. This will make life really difficult for him, but we have seen that with these cars, overtaking is possible this year, we cannot give up yet: there is a lot to fight for and we are confident that we can turn the situation around tomorrow".