Red Bull Formula 1 boss Christian Horner has revealed a front wing tweak during the red flag period in the Japanese Grand Prix aided Max Verstappen’s crushing win.
Verstappen rebounded from a retirement a fortnight ago in Australia to dominate proceedings at Suzuka, romping home from pole position with a 12-second margin.
Sergio Perez trailed his team-mate home to hand Red Bull a third 1-2 finish in four races this season, extending its championship lead to 21 points over Ferrari behind.
“It was great to bounce back after the DNF in Australia, after such a great start to the season, it was important to bounce back quickly,” Horner said.
“I think that we’ve done that emphatically here at Suzuka this weekend.
“It’s a great performance. We had a front row lockout, 1-2 finish, fastest lap and the fastest pit stop. So overall, a great team performance.”
Both Verstappen and Perez had expressed concern heading into the race about Red Bull’s long-run pace being competitive based on its prior practice simulations.
However, Verstappen disclosed that a series of set-up tweaks before parc ferme conditions were enforced contributed to him unlocking a positive feeling in the car.
“Speaking with the drivers, the car just got better and better through the race,” Horner stated.
“Definitely maybe the temperature helped a little bit. The set-up changes were beneficial as well.
“We don’t know how much fuel Ferrari actually run on Friday. So to know exactly what was the difference on those long runs.
“But definitely the engineering team did a great job in tidying up the deficiency on Friday into an advantage on Sunday.”
Asked whether the worries were genuine going into the grand prix, Horner replied: “You just don’t know really. And these tyres seem to be particularly sensitive.
“Definitely the conditions being a bit warmer, it wasn’t a disadvantage for us.
“I think the good work that the engineers have done, supported by Milton Keynes, obviously the changes that they’ve introduced onto the car worked very well on the long runs.
“The degradation was very low, and worked very well.”
Despite streaking clear in the nascent stages, Verstappen was heard complaining on the radio that the balance of his RB20 was drifting from understeer to oversteer.
Horner has revealed how the stoppage on Lap 1 to sort the crash between Alex Albon and Daniel Ricciardo enabled the team to make changes to his front wing angle.
“I think the red flag helped them reset their front wings after they probably overcompensated, so that was interesting,” he divulged.
“The circuit was in quite different shape to when the long runs were done on Friday. I thought it was a very well-executed race. No dramas, no issues.”
