A couple of weeks ago, Ferrari struggled in USA, and the Mercedes duo and Max Verstappen were quizzed about Ferrari’s lack of pace. It was at that moment that a brazen Verstappen decided to kick the hornet’s nest.
He cheekily suggested, “That’s what happens when you stop cheating”, obviously angering Ferrari and the tifosi. Unfortunately, his VERY public comments left Red Bull in an awkward position, to defend the Dutchman. In fact, team boss Christian Horner suggested that Verstappen’s Ferrari cheating claims were the work of media manipulation.
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Lewis Hamilton and Mercedes dominated on-track headlines, while Max Verstappen created tsunamis off the track. According to him, Ferrari’s lack of pace was down being forced to change their power unit system because of technical directives released by the FIA.
Of course, neither Sebastian Vettel nor Charles Leclerc took the accusations lying down. Sebastian Vettel calling Verstappen unprofessional and immature for his post-race reaction.
However, Horner tried to pour water under the bridge and said, “I think Max’s comments were taken…perhaps…by the time you had translated from Dutch to German to English sometimes [the quotes] they get played with a little.”
However, it was interesting to note that the Red Bull team principal suggested that more technical directives could be on the way this weekend.
“Being such a competitive business and complicated business, teams are continually asking questions of the technical delegate,” Horner added.
“Questioning what is a fair interpretation of the regulations in terms of what is legal and what isn’t. That happens on the chassis side and on the engine side.”
“Of course, there was a few clarifications that came out over the Austin weekend, a few more yesterday and maybe a few more this weekend.”
“It just shows the FIA are really policing what is a very complicated power unit with great scrutiny.”
