Horner explains Red Bull team orders: "Just didn't make sense"

Tyre management

With the heat sky high in Spain, every team had to manage the tyres more than usual. Horner explains that his two drivers were running two completely different races, and keeping Perez in the lead wasn't something they wanted to risk. 

"Our responsibility is to bring the car home with as much points as we can. He couldn't see at the time he had a long stint on the medium tyre. No point in taking the risk, it was the right thing to do. Max was two seconds a lap quicker, it just didn't make sense to let them fight it out. We will discuss it openly, he'll see the race plot. He had 30 laps to do, we needed to pit to cover Russell. In the heat of the moment, he's a racing driver. If he's not pushing that he's not doing a good job," Horner told Sky Sports. 

"A shoutout for Checo for playing the team game. They weren't in the same race, but they worked together well. The problem we had, we could see temperatures raging. Water, oil and brakes. The last thing we want to risk is a DNF when two cars can nail a one-two."

Race of two halves

Horner went on to look at Verstappen's race. The Dutchman won in Spain with a broken DRS and a trip across the gravel. The British team boss explained his delight now the 2021 World Champion overtakes Leclerc in the standings. 

"Nothing seemed to be working for us in the first half. He had a moment at turn four and he did well to keep going. He was stuck behind George Russell, we felt our best race was converting to him to a three-stop and as it turned out that was the preferred strategy. He was venting his frustration, a bit of road rage which is understandable. He must have hit the button 50 times on one straight, something we need to get on top of," Horner added.