"We just try to build fastest car": Christian Horner hits back at suggestions RB19 is tailored to Verstappen over Perez
Sep 08, 2023
Monza [Italy], September 8 : Red Bull team principal Christian Horner has refuted assertions that the F1 team prioritised Max Verstappen over Sergio Perez by designing the RB19 car around the Dutch driver's skill set and claimed that the two-time world champion's versatility is what makes him special.
Mercedes Team Principal Toto Wolff said he could not "comprehend" the distance between the two drivers, calling it "odd" and "bizarre" during qualifying at the Dutch Grand Prix last month, where Verstappen won by 1.313s over Perez, who qualified seventh.
“We've seen that Max has destroyed every single teammate that was with him. Whether it's his ability to create a car around himself that's just very tricky to control but fast if you can, and that makes those gaps," Formula 1 quoted Wolff as saying.
“It shows a total lack of understanding of how a race car and team develop if Toto thinks that we're developing a car around a single driver," Horner said in response to Wolff’s comment, according to the Formula 1 website.
“You develop a car to be as quick as you can, and sometimes quick cars are difficult cars. That's what's historically been the case. And I think that drivers adapt. The good drivers that you see in wet conditions, mixed conditions, varied conditions, the elite [drivers], they adapt quickly. And I think that's one of his key skillsets is his ability to adapt to the feeling and the grip levels that a car gives him," Red Bull Principal added.
“But there's certainly no direction to say ‘oh, we tailor something to suit one specific driver’. We're just trying to design and build the fastest car that we can... Our tools, our simulation and our wind tunnel provide us with that direction," he said.
Verstappen currently leads Perez by 145 points in the drivers' standings and is on the verge of winning the championship three times in a row.
On where Verstappen's ranks among the all-time greats of the sport, Horner said, "Well, I never worked with [Juan Manuel] Fangio or Jackie Stewart... but what Max Verstappen is achieving is quite phenomenal."
