Red Bull ace Max Verstappen won his fourth race of the season at the prestigious Monaco Grand Prix. In a rain-hit race, the Dutchmen kept his cool and crossed the checkered flag with no competition from behind. His teammate Sergio Perez could not score due to a horrible weekend where nothing went right for him. Meanwhile, Red Bull team principal Christian Horner looked highly pleased and baffled by the results at the same time.
Since Sergio Perez dropped out of the qualifying due to DNF, Max Verstappen faced competition from Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso, who nearly clinched pole position before the Dutchman recorded a flying lap. Nonetheless, the Spanish national had an equal chance to win during the main race. However, untimely rain and a few confusing strategic moves blew away his chance; at least, that’s what Red Bull boss Christian Horner believes.
Christian Horner Claims Aston Martin’s Flawed Strategy Helped Max Verstappen Win The Race
With Max Verstappen on the pole, Monaco Grand Prix commenced with much drama on the initial lap. However, the excitement doused quickly once the race settled. It followed a steady path with no major overtakes until the 55th lap, wherein rain started pouring down. Initially, the intensity was slow, and only a certain sector of the track was damped. But, the forecast showed that the intensity would pick up gradually. Hence, everyone started pitting for intermediate tires. However, Aston Martin pulled off a gamble and put medium tires on Fernando Alonso, who was 10 seconds behind the race leader, Verstappen. Eventually, the rain picked up, and Aston Martin had to make another pit stop for Alonso to give him intermediate tires.
The flawed strategy cost Fernando valuable time as he dropped further down to Max Verstappen. On the other hand, Red Bull chief Christian Horner believes Aston Martin’s gamble let Max off the hook. Since Alonso lost time, the drink-based team had extra time to revise their strategy for the Dutchman, who was running on mediums for 55 laps. Horner said Alonso’s goof-up earned the team a few extra seconds to get their pit stop right. Even if Max had wasted a few seconds at the pit, he would have entered ahead of the Spanish national, and his position as the race leader was under zero threat.
Aston Martin Responds To Christian Horner’s “Let Off The Hook” Claims
Undoubtedly, Aston Martin’s pitstop strategy for Fernando Alonso was flawed. However, the team principal, Mike Krack, has rejected claims made by Red Bull chief Christian Horner that they let Max Verstappen “off the hook.” Mike said calling in Fernando for mediums was an error in judgment. They failed to anticipate the intensity of the rain. Moreover, the Silverstone-based team believed that once the rain stopped, the track would dry up quickly as the surface was hot.
However, the plan failed miserably, which increased Fernando’s gap to Verstappen. Still, Mike Krack reckoned that Aston Martin had no chance of catching up to the Christian Horner-led Red Bull even if they got their strategy right. The gap was too much, and on a track like Monaco, it’s difficult to chase it down. Even Fernando Alonso echoed the same sentiment and claimed that he was happy with P2 and that in no real-case scenario, he would have been able to win the race.