Horner slams 'nonsense' Verstappen conspiracy theory

Jun.3 (GMM) Christian Horner has slammed a wild conspiracy theory about why Max Verstappen crashed into George Russell in the closing moments of the Spanish GP.

Most honest insiders concede that the quadruple world champion deliberately made contact with Russell as he allowed the Mercedes to re-pass.

Even Verstappen didn’t hide it. “Yes, it was done to me too,” he was quoted as saying by the Belgian broadcaster Play Sports.

Red Bull advisor Dr Helmut Marko told Servus TV on Monday: “Max took his foot off the throttle, which you can clearly see on the telemetry, and then he stepped on the throttle again.

“That was a miscalculation, and then, of course, all hell broke loose.”

At the time, Verstappen insisted he has no regrets. “I can’t do anything about it, so you just have to get on with it,” the Dutchman quipped.

“Life goes on, right? I’m not in the championship anyway.”

When asked if he feels the pressure on his shoulders now, given the growing gap to the McLarens and just 1 point from a race ban, he said simply: “No.”

Verstappen, 27, left Barcelona without issuing an apology for his actions, although he came close on Monday with a post on Instagram.

“Our tyre choice to the end and some moves after the safety car restart fuelled my frustration, leading to a move that was not right and shouldn’t have happened,” he wrote.

“I always give everything out there for the team and emotions can run high.”

In a post on his own Instagram account, team boss Christian Horner revealed: “Max apologised in the debrief for his incident with Russell.”

Former Mercedes engine boss Norbert Haug, however, is not impressed.

“As far as I’m concerned, two very simple words are missing at the end of Verstappen’s message – ‘Sorry, George’,” said the German. “And maybe he can also apologise to the race management.

“He is a person to admire, and rightly so,” Haug added. “He is without a doubt the best driver of the moment, and he has been for a long time. But he has to behave accordingly.”

As for Horner, he slammed two of Verstappen’s harshest critics after the events on Sunday. Former Mercedes driver Nico Rosberg, for one, immediately called for the Red Bull driver’s disqualification from the race.

Horner called the 2016 world champion’s commentary “sensationalist”.

Ralf Schumacher, meanwhile, had even suggested Verstappen may have crashed into Russell deliberately to incur a penalty, tempt a race ban, and fall from P3 in the championship to trigger his well-known contract exit clause.

Horner told Bild newspaper: “This theory is utter nonsense.

“I haven’t heard anything so stupid in a long time. Max is a racer through and through, he always wants to win, and he would never act like that.”

As for former F1 driver Schumacher, he doubted-down by indicating that the late-race events on Sunday at least proved that Verstappen has now given up on a fifth consecutive drivers’ title.

“I think he realised that things are not going as he had hoped and that the update is not working so well,” said the German.