F1 | Red Bull, Christian Horner: “A comeback that smells of victory”

A second place that smacks of victory, that of Max Verstappen in Sochi: Red Bull - thanks to the three-place penalty after the accident in Monza - had decided to homologate the fourth Power Unit on the Dutchman's single-seater, condemning him to a comeback from last position on a circuit historically belonging to Mercedes. The unforeseeable is always around the corner, and in fact the rain did not fail to make its appearance: Verstappen decides to return immediately, at the right time, to switch to intermediate tyre, and finds himself at the finish line in second position. It couldn't have gone better than this: Hamilton, with his hundredth victory, has only two points ahead of his rival in the drivers' championship, and anything can still happen.

"Today's comeback from twentieth to second place is the result of an extraordinary performance. We must congratulate Lewis on his 100th win, but second place after serving the penalty sounds like a first place. With six or seven laps to go we would never have imagined it. In complicated conditions, such as those at the end of the race, you can easily go from good to bad. It's really hard to decide whether to return to the pits or not and the drivers see and hear much more on the track than the engineers on the wall, so it was up to Max and Checo to decide whether to return to fit the intermediate tires or not” revealed team principal Christian Honer.

"In the end Max saw things through and rejoined at the right time, while Checo decided not to rejoin, losing several positions, but these things happen and luck is part of the game. Sergio wasn't the only one, along with the guys in front, who tried to resist out there, being so close to the checkered flag, but the gamble didn't work. These last two tracks are historically Mercedes territory, but to come out with just a two-point deficit in the drivers' championship is positive, and I'm grateful to have taken our penalty for the fourth PU unit here, where we managed to take the podium Horner continued. everyone in the team is enjoying this championship, we are finally competitive again and we will play everything in these last seven races, getting the strategies right, and penalties will play an important role. It will be fascinating to see how it evolves. Looking at Turkey, it was an interesting race last year with the new asphalt. We are looking forward to racing and today's result puts us in a good position in the championship. It will be a phenomenal fight".