Horner sets record straight on Max and Hart clash

(pix) jumped to the defence of Max Verstappen after the Dutchman was seen clashing with a Red Bull engineer following his retirement from the Australian Grand Prix. Verstappen was hunting a 10th straight victory but was forced to call it a day after just five laps with smoke billowing from the back of his car.

The 26-year-old was then involved in a frosty exchange with an engineer in the Red Bull garage before storming away from the scene. A few minutes later, he emerged after getting changed out of his race suit and was seen chatting with Horner on the pit wall.

Speaking after the race, the Red Bull team principal insisted that Verstappen was ‘very gracious’ with his colleagues despite appearing to let his frustrations boil over.

“Obviously a driver is going to be frustrated when he gets out of a car from a retirement,” said Horner on Sky Sports F1. “I think he’s been very gracious with the team and all of the mechanics. It hurts everybody in the same way. It’s a matter of learning from it.

“We’ve had two years with no mechanical DNFs which has been remarkable. It’s a matter of understanding what caused it and learning from it and moving on.

“It’s remarkable after three races that he’s still leading the world championship even with that DNF but, as I say, a lot of lessons to take from today.”

A rear brake failure was responsible for ending Verstappen’s race, with the Red Bull man powerless to prevent the issue from ruining his hopes of victory in Melbourne. He compared the experience to driving with the handbrake on, saying: “We could see some fire as soon as the lights went off.

“The right rear brake stuck on and the damage kept increasing. It was basically like driving with the handbrake on. It was really weird to drive in some corners. If a brake is stuck on it doesn’t help. You could see one brake, the right rear brake, stuck on. The team will investigate.”

Horner went on to confirm that Verstappen’s brakes were not working properly from the outset, saying: “It looks like the brake was bound on pretty much from the start of the race, and that’s why Max described it as like having a handbrake which caused him to have a couple of moments.

“Of course, the heat is building and building (which caused) the resulting fire. We’ve got all the bits back now and we’re going through the damage. We’ll go through and understand exactly what caused it.” – Express Newspapers