Christian Horner praises Max Verstappen’s bold start: “If there’s space, he takes it — but Piastri played fair”. Christian Horner praises Max Verstappen’s bold start at Imola.

Masterpiece at the start
Max Verstappen won at Imola, and not many believed it was possible on the eve of the first European weekend of the season — not even after Friday’s free practice sessions. But thanks to a brilliant qualifying, a masterful start, and a race pace that even stunned McLaren team principal Andrea Stella, the Dutchman brought home another trophy and is now just 22 points away from the top of the championship.

Speaking to Sky Sport F1 after the race, Red Bull boss Christian Horner first gave credit to Max Verstappen himself, once again capable of turning the outcome of the GP around with a moment of magic: “The move at the start? That’s typical Max — if he sees a gap, he goes for it immediately and always commits fully. In that case, it was either win the race or end up out; it was a fantastic corner. I also have to compliment Oscar,” Horner added honestly, “because he left him enough space. But after that moment, we had the race under control. The pace was very strong. Strategy and the pit stop also went very well.” – he pointed out.

Surprising pace
“Stella surprised by our pace? We were also surprised at how fast we were in the race,” the British team principal admitted jokingly. “Let’s see how formidable they are. But today we certainly had our best race. Turnaround from Friday? I think that’s the strength of our team. We all work together. We’re very united and strong. The engineers, the staff — everyone does a great job. Max is an incredible driver, and everyone works very hard to deliver performance, both at the factory and at the track.