Horner delivers Verstappen verdict after penalties: ‘Very dangerous territory’

Red Bull team principal Christian Horner feels F1 is heading into “very dangerous territory” following the latest incidents between Max Verstappen and Lando Norris in the Mexico City Grand Prix.

Just seven days on from the furore that unfolded in the United States GP where Norris was given a five-second penalty for an off-track overtake on Verstappen and not ceding position, the situation between the duo blew up again in Mexico.

On this occasion, Verstappen was handed two 10-second penalties for a lap-10 battle with the McLaren driver as they duelled over second place.

The stewards penalised Verstappen initially for forcing Norris off track as he made a move around the outside into Turn 4. Moments later, out of Turn 7 and into Turn 8, Verstappen attempted to reclaim the place, but did so by forcing Norris off track and not ceding the position.

Asked for his view on the incidents on Sky Sports F1, Horner said: “Max didn’t leave the track at Turn 4, and then at [Turn] 7, Lando opened the door very late, and they both ran off there.

“The problem is, I think we’re going to get into very dangerous territory of at what point is a divebomb going to be okay.

“I think the FIA and the drivers need to sit down and decide what is acceptable and what isn’t.

“I thought two 10-seconds [penalties] was a bit on the harsh side.”

As to whether he needed to speak to Verstappen about his style of racing, Horner swerved the question to an extent.

“You’ve always got to play to the rules, and we’ll look and learn from this race,” he added.

“More important for us to understand today is we just didn’t have the pace.

“We had good pace in quali yesterday but our race pace was nowhere compared to Ferrari and McLaren, so that’s really where our focus will be over the next five days.”