F1 | US GP | Christian Horner says: "it would have been brutal to pit Checo and take him off the podium" to take fastest lap point
After the Red Bull team scored a double podium at the Circuit of the Americas, extending Max Verstappen's gap to Lewis Hamilton on the championship and closing the team's gap to Mercedes on the constructor's, Christian Horner spoke on the decision that allowed the team to have one of the best results of the season in the United States GP.
With 12 points separating the protagonists of what has been one of the most exciting fights for the title in F1’s recent history, every single point could make a difference. As the pinnacle of motorsport heads to México for round 18th of the championship calendar, Red Bull’s Christian Horner expressed how it would have not been fair to take the last podium position from Pérez in order to pit him and take the fastest lap point away from Lewis Hamilton.
With pit-stops and pit lane journey taking an average of 23 seconds during the last race in the United States, Sergio Pérez was running with a comfotable gap from 4th place Charles Leclerc, however, it was not enough to assure the Mexican a pit-stop without gifting third place to the #16 Ferrari.
"It would have been brutal to pit Checo and take him off the podium," said Christian Horner, when asked by Autosport.com.
"Leclerc was obviously too close behind. In the collective position of the team, it was better for Checo to take the points. So that's what we did."
Mercedes is now just 23 points ahead of Red Bull in the constructors’ championship after the Milton Keynes-based team scored 40 points in the race at COTA thanks to the victory achieved by Max Verstappen and the 3rd place completed by Sergio Pérez in one of his strongest performances of the season.
"The way he managed the race, you could see his confidence is growing," Horner told SkySports F1.
"That's the second race in a row he's on the podium now. His home race is coming up. He's finding his form, which is crucial for us at this time of the year," he added.
The Red Bull Team Principal is very happy with the form the Mexican is finding in himself to perform in the second Red Bull seat and has had nothing but praise for the 31-yeas-old driver during the weekend where the Mexican was close to scoring the first pole position of his career and achieved a strong 3rd place on the race, the Briton expressed: “It was a tough race for Checo with no drinks system, but again the way he managed the race was fantastic and you can see him growing in confidence with his second podium in consecutive races. He produced a phenomenal drive.”
