Verstappen crashes again but Horner and Marko say "unlucky" Dutchman will recover; Was shunt caused by the wind?
Tuesday 11 December 2018 14:51, UK
Christian Horner has backed Max Verstappen to recover from yet another 2018 shunt and believes a strong Azerbaijan GP will provide a great boost to the Dutchman's confidence.
After four costly mistakes in the opening three rounds of the season, the last thing Verstappen needed was a crash in Practice One in Baku - but that's exactly what he got as he lost control of his Red Bull under braking at Turn Six, prematurely ending his session.
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Verstappen's sloppy start to the year has led to questions surrounding his adventurous driving style, but Horner has once again defended the 20-year-old, who bounced back in Practice Two by finishing third.
"It's a difficult patch for him," the Red Bull team principal told Sky Sports F1. "I'm convinced he'll come through it.
"We've seen it with other drivers, he just needs to have a solid qualifying and race here. We know about his talent, I think a result here will just settle him and he'll be up, up, and away."
Horner also believes the incident in China, where he collided with Sebastian Vettel's Ferrari in an ill-judged manoeuvre, is already having a positive effect on Verstappen.
"I think he is learning with experience that you haven't got to be a hero with every lap and on every overtake," he added.
"His team-mate [Daniel Ricciardo] demonstrated that perfectly in China with that last part of the race. He's a smart guy, that result will have been very sore for him and I'm sure he'll learn a lot from it."
The Red Bull boss also described how his and Helmut Marko's way of handling these situations was usually a "good cop, bad cop" routine, but said the notoriously firm team advisor put an arm around Verstappen's shoulder after China.
"We know he's strong in the head, it's just a series of bad luck," insisted Marko.
Wind the cause of crash?
While Verstappen has accepted his fault for most of his shunts this year - his Baku bump was bizarre in the fact it was not even on a quick lap, and he wasn't really attacking the corner.
"He's just a little bit unlucky at the moment," added Marko. "I think the wind came into it with the braking."
With his RB14 heavily damaged, Verstappen was lucky to both avoid a gearbox change and get back out in Practice Two, where he finished a tenth of a second adrift of Ricciardo's leading time.
"It was a bit windier, but I don't know," he said. "I lost the rear and spun and, of course, hit the wall.
"But the mechanics did a great job to repair the car and in second practice we did pretty much the programme. The car was handling really well."
