Red Bull team principal Christian Horner has defended the call that saw Max Verstappen undercut team-mate Sergio Perez and which left the Mexican driver questioning how he had lost the lead of the Dutch Grand Prix.
A superb call from Perez at the end of a rain-hit opening lap at Zandvoort saw him switch from slicks to intermediates, in contrast to polesitter Verstappen who had opted to remain on track.
After the two-time champion made his stop at the end of the second lap, Perez had opened up a nearly 15-second advantage.
As Verstappen switched on his intermediates and made light of the wet track, he took four seconds out of Perez on lap seven, and had cut the deficit to 6.1secs by the end of the following lap.
Ordinarily, teams give their lead driver on track the priority with regard to stops, yet after lap 11 and with the seaside circuit drying out, Verstappen was called in first to return to the soft tyres, with Perez pitting the following lap.
The decision led to Verstappen opening a lead of just over 3.8s by the end of lap 13, and a baffled Perez asking over the team radio: “Did Max undercut us?”
The call was crucial in that opening phase of a race that saw Verstappen again master the conditions, notably late on when the heavens opened, before eventually going on to equal the record of four-time champion Sebastian Vettel with a ninth successive victory.
Perez had to settle for fifth despite clinching third at the chequered flag due to serving a five-second time penalty for speeding in the pit lane.
Perez kept his counsel after the race as he said: “In those scenarios, the team has more information than we do at the time.
“It’s something we obviously will review during the (post-race engineering) meeting. I’m sure there’s a reason behind it.”
Horner said the call to pit Verstappen ahead of Perez was an easy one to make given the circumstances unfolding behind the Dutchman.
“The way he (Verstappen) cut through the traffic was quite sensational,” said Horner.
“Checo then had the target to pull a gap on the cars behind him but Max’s pace, as he came through the field, was such that at one point he took seven seconds out of him in three laps, and was coming very, very fast.
“Then you get to that awkward point at the crossover (between the inters and slicks), and (Fernando) Alonso and (Pierre) Gasly behind him had pulled the trigger and pitted.
“You could see from (Alex) Albon that suddenly the circuit was coming alive for the slicks.
“So had we pitted Checo first they (Alonso and Gasly) would both have undercut Max so we’d have gone from a net one-two to a net one-four.
“So we pitted Max first with the risk being that he’d undercut Checo but we’d end up with, as a team, first and a second.
“It was a no-brainer.”
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