Do you recall Sergio Perez’s tweet after the Saudi Arabian GP? One that read he wants to be the world champion that was deleted later on. Well, the Street Specialist might have to think about winning the Baku GP first before thinking about the title. Christian Horner revealed some unknown facts about Max Verstappen’s RB19 after it took the huge shunt from the Mercedes, which put the Dutchman in the Prime seat to win the main race. But what was this fact?

George Russell barged into Max Verstappen in his attempt to overtake him. Russell pipped Max Verstappen at the Australian GP as well to take the lead of the race before retiring. While the Briton did successfully overtake the Red Bull driver on Lap 1 of the sprint trace, he also left a huge hole in the sidepod of Max Verstappen’s car. The Dutchman was quick to radio his team and complain about the incident as the engineer revealed that the hit has affected the balance of the car.

A tweet posted on Twitter suggested that Max lost around half a second in sector 2 only as a result of the hole in the sidepod. This puts Sergio Perez’s hopes of winning the main race after winning the sprint at risk. Christian Horner also revealed that Max lost at least three-quarters of a second a lap because of the damages. The Red Bull then suggested that Max has another shot at redemption on Sunday as the pace looks solid for a win.

According to Skysports.com, Christian Horner said, “Unfortunately, the result of it was quite a lot of bodywork damage, and that cost him quite a bit of performance. When you see a hole like that it’s got to be three-quarters of a second a lap at least, maybe more. The great thing is Max has another chance tomorrow and he starts on the front row.”

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With Max Verstappen starting on the front row and Ferrari’s tire wear problems still not fully gone away, the Dutchman looks in the prime seat to win the main race on Sunday. Sergio Perez will need to pull out something special from his magic street king hat to defeat his teammate. However, despite the positive words of Christian Horner and high hopes for Sunday, Max Verstappen did not shy away from criticizing George Russell for the damages.

Max Verstappen suggests that George Russell’s risk was unnecessary 

Max Verstappen said a lot of things in the heat of the moment to George Russell. Nevertheless, reflecting back on the incident after some time, the Dutchman suggested Russell’s W14 was way off the pace of the Red Bull and he would’ve overtaken him anyway in the next laps like he actually did. He explained how George’s move was unnecessary and could’ve potentially damaged his car or ended the race for both drivers.

According to Skysports.com, Max Verstappen said, “I respect all the drivers a lot. It’s a bit of common sense what you do on the first lap. You just have to picture yourself. They are off the pace and to risk that much on lap one.”

“I think it’s not very rewarding anyway because I would get him anyway within a few laps. There is potential to damage your car as well, not only my car. Of course, I had a hole in my sidepod, but he could also get a puncture and then his race is over as well.”

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What do you make of Christian Horner’s comments? Will Max be able to win the Main race?