Christian Horner does not think “hard racer” Max Verstappen deserved a penalty for his dramatic collision with Lando Norris at the Austrian Grand Prix.
Verstappen and Norris collided while fighting for the lead, with contact leaving both drivers with a damaged car.
The stewards found Verstappen “predominantly” to blame and issued him a 10-second time penalty.
“I think Max is a hard racer, and they know that,” Horner said, before pointing out the fight between Verstappen and Norris at the start of Saturday’s sprint race.
“I think Lando was trying to make up for yesterday. It was inevitable that you could see this building perhaps for a couple of races. At some point, there was going to be something close between the two of them.”
Verstappen finished fifth, which was not impacted by the penalty.
Horner felt Norris was pushing the limits of what was acceptable because he had a time penalty of his own incoming for exceeding track limits too many times during the laps leading up to the incident.
“I think it’s inevitable they were [going to clash] how close they’ve been racing the last few weeks. It’s a shame. Lando was already on four strikes. I think he was probably going to get a five-second penalty anyway. And I would say it was a racing incident.
“I thought it was a bit harsh that Max got a 10-second penalty. Thankfully it didn’t affect his race had already been damaged by the puncture that he picked up. So very frustrating. But on a day that neither of his main opponents scored, we still took home 10 points in the drivers’, 16 in the constructors’, and I think McLaren only gained two points on us.”
The incident will dominate the build-up to the British Grand Prix this weekend.
On Sunday evening, Norris said he would lose respect for Verstappen if the Dutchman refused to take responsibility for the clash.
Asked whether Norris and Verstappen’s friendship could survive the incident, Horner said: “Maybe they won’t play padel tomorrow, but I’m sure they’ll talk about it. They’re two hard racers, they’ll talk about things openly, I’ve got no doubt about that.”
Horner then joked about Silverstone boss Stuart Pringle recently saying Verstappen’s dominance was hindering the circuit from selling all its tickets for this year’s race.
At the end of his session, Horner said: “I think the British Grand Prix is set to be a continuation of the theme that we’ve seen the last few races.
“If they can’t sell tickets now, then they’re properly in the s—!”