Christian Horner Questions McLaren’s Strategy After British Grand Prix Blunder: ‘Maybe They’ll Look Back with Hindsight…

Christian Horner confused by McLaren’s tactics: “Perhaps they’ll reflect on it later…”

Christian Horner expressed his bewilderment at McLaren’s approach with Lando Norris during the British Grand Prix.

Christian Horner, the head of Red Bull's Formula 1 team, has raised concerns about McLaren's decision not to equip Lando Norris with medium tires during the final phase of the British Grand Prix.

Norris surged ahead after demonstrating impressive speed while transitioning to intermediate tires.

The race turned in Lewis Hamilton's favor when Mercedes opted to switch to slick tires one lap before McLaren made the same decision.

This decision gave Hamilton the lead, but Norris remained competitive because Mercedes chose the less durable soft tires.

However, McLaren opted to equip Norris with soft tires, which wore out quickly and resulted in him being overtaken by Max Verstappen.

McLaren failed to capitalize once again, performing below expectations even though their car was faster than Red Bull's at Silverstone.

In a post-race interview, Horner commented: "McLaren had a fresh set of medium tires available. Neither Mercedes nor we had that advantage. It's surprising. I was certain they would opt for the yellow-marked tires. Perhaps they'll reconsider their decision in retrospect…"

"We must extend our congratulations to Lewis. He is a formidable competitor, and I understand that this victory holds significant meaning for him. It is a well-earned and widely celebrated triumph."

Horner characterized the race as "strange" and believed that using the hard tires with Verstappen towards the end provided the best chance to achieve the optimal outcome.

"We came very close to securing the victory. The race was unusually strange. At the beginning, our speed on the medium tires just wasn't enough," he mentioned.

"Initially, Mercedes seemed to have the situation handled. However, the rain changed things, and McLaren then appeared to be in control. We started to fall behind. During this time, I grew concerned about Carlos Sainz, who was challenging Max."

“We decided to switch to intermediate tires at the perfect moment. However, that extra lap on the intermediates, which moved us into third place, likely caused some damage to the tire.”

"We fell behind until the other drivers experienced tire degradation too. Once that happened, we began to recover, and everything stabilized. The critical decision then was choosing the right tire for the last part of the race. We noticed that the soft tires were deteriorating quickly, lasting only six or seven laps at the beginning of the race before breaking down on other cars. Therefore, we opted for the hard tires, believing it was our best option."

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