Christian Horner pokes fun at Toto Wolff’s ‘fundamental lack of understanding’
Christian Horner has agreed with Max Verstappen’s labelling of Toto Wolff’s recent comments regarding the RB19 as “bulls**t”.
Recently, Toto Wolff posited that Red Bull’s development of the RB19 has focused on Max Verstappen’s unique requirements as a driver – leading to a big disparity in pace between himself and teammate Sergio Perez.
But such comments have met with immediate denial from Red Bull, with both Verstappen and Christian Horner saying there’s no meat to the allegation.
Max Verstappen labels Wolff’s comments as ‘bulls**t’
With the Dutch driver in defiant form as he spoke to the media on Thursday, Verstappen dismissedWolff’s commentsentirely when asked whether there was any truth to the idea.
“Bullsh*t comments,” he said. “It’s not like that.
“I mean, I just drive the car I get to the fastest way possible. I’m not there to tell the guys to give me more front-end, because that’s how I like it.
“I’ll just say ‘Design me the fastest car, and I’ll drive around that.’
“Every single year it’s just different, every car drives a little bit different.
“People will say what is your driving style? My driving style is not something particular, I adapt to what I need for the car to go quick.”
Christian Horner: It shows a complete lack of understanding
Speaking to the media, including PlanetF1.com, on Friday afternoon at Monza, Christian Horner was asked what he made of Verstappen’s response to Wolff’s suggestion.
“Well, I think I completely agree with Max,” the Red Bull team boss said.
“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.
“You develop a car to be as quick as you can and sometimes quick cars are difficult cars. That’s what has historically been the case.
“The good drivers adapt, you see in wet conditions, mixed, varied, conditions – the elite adapt quickly, and I think that one of his key skill sets is his ability to adapt to the feeling and the grip levels that a car gives him.
“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, and our tools, our simulation, and our wind tunnel, provide us with that direction.”
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Why has Max Verstappen got such an advantage over Sergio Perez?
With Verstappen and Perez having started the season on relatively equal form, leading to a fascinating back-and-forth through the opening races, Verstappen has pointed to the Azerbaijan Grand Prix weekend as the moment at which he found himself at one with the RB19.
Asked what had fundamentally changed for Verstappen during the course of that weekend, Horner said: “I think he just played with his driving style. What’s remarkable about him is that you see how he uses the tools within the car, how he varies his style. It’s truly impressive.
“His ability to adapt to conditions, to circumstances, and quite often you’ll see it on the first lap of a practice quite often.
“He’ll go straight to the top of the charts because he’s got this inner confidence and being at one with the car.”
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