Red Bull team principal Christian Horner has backed Max Verstappen’s claim that he has been treated unfairly by F1 stewards, and argued that the scrutiny on his driving standards both with F1 and in the wider world is part of a “narrative to put pressure on him”.
Verstappen was penalised for the clash with title rival Lewis Hamilton at Monza, as well as being punished four times for incidents in the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix thanks to two time penalties, having to cede position on track and dropping two places on the grid for the second restart.
In the build-up to the title-deciding Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, all competitors have been reminded by FIA race director Michael Masi that the stewards can issue a points penalty or worse in the case of a title-deciding incident, with fears that the title could be decided by an on-track clash.
With the risk of a collision a major talking point, something that is more likely to favour Verstappen given he is ahead on countback – although Hamilton, too, could benefit from a clash if it costs the Red Bull driver – the driving standards question has become highly-charged.
“On occasion, I think he has been treated harshly,” said Horner when asked to comment on what Verstappen said.
“He has come under scrutiny that we haven’t seen applied consistently with other incidents. And he feels aggrieved by that.
“The problem for Max is that the scrutiny is on him, he has the spotlight positioned on him, he’s running at the front, he’s competing against a seven-time world champion.
“The allegations about his driving style, about his driving standards, there’s been a narrative that’s been pushed to put pressure on him.
“He’s driven fantastically well all year. Max drives in a manner that ignites passion, it has brought new fans into the sport this year and we do not want him to change. We want him to drive in exactly the manner that he has that’s put him on the precipice of competing with Lewis for this world championship.
“It’s been great to see the new fans coming into the sport this year, the young fans coming in. And that in a large part is because of what he’s been doing and the way he drives, the way he has taken on the greatest driver of all time, the most winning driver, the biggest champion. And all credit is deserved on that.
“The mental pressure on a young man with the scrutiny that he’s had has been immense this year. And the way he’s conducted himself, the ways he’s handled that, [it’s] right that he feels aggrieved with some of those decisions.
“And of course, what you want as a driver is consistency. What you want as a team is consistency. And I think that’s the most important thing that we request coming into this weekend.”
Horner talked up the quality of Verstappen’s driving this season and has urged him not to change his style for the title decider given how successful it has been.
He argued that Verstappen has made up for the relative weakness of the Red Bull-Honda package compared to Mercedes over the second half of the season.
“The most important thing is for him to enjoy this weekend and to give it his best, to drive exactly as he has in the previous 21 races, to attack the weekend in a way that he has that has given him those nine victories and has taken him to this point of being tied on points with Lewis,” said Horner of what he has told Verstappen.
“He’s done phenomenally well since the summer break. We haven’t had the strongest car and I think it’s Max that’s kept us in this championship with the way that he’s extracted performances.
“You think of the first turn in Mexico, the Austin Grand Prix as two recent examples of where he’s driven out of his skin to keep us in this fight.
“The biggest thing for him is just go for it, enjoy it and obviously the target is we have to beat Lewis. To beat Lewis, you have probably got to win the race because on normal statistics, I can’t see anybody else being in that position.
“So the only chance that we have to win this championship is to beat Lewis and we want to do that on the track.
“We want to do that, as we’ve done on at least nine previous occasions, you know, with Max so far this year.”
