Christian Horner provided Red Bull F1‘s stance on Lewis Hamilton and the abuse against him! He also backed Max Verstappen, who happens to be much closer to this incident than one would expect. Notably, Verstappen’s girlfriend Kelly’s father and three-time world champion Nelson Piquet has been under fire for the past few days, making him vulnerable to criticism too.
ADVERTISEMENT
Article continues below this ad
Right after his words against the Briton surfaced, fans demanded some action. Coincidentally, Red Bull was handling another case of racist abuse within their own junior team. An announcement for Juri Vips came out around the same time, and they took action against his acts by terminating the driver’s contract.
However, the Austrian team failed to show their support to Hamilton in any manner, garnering a lot of criticism. Horner has now backed his team and revealed the reason behind it.
He said, “We obviously had an incident with one of our young drivers earlier at the end of last week. And we took very defensive action where you know he made a racist comment. And so we took action…”
Christian Horner on Nelson Piquet and Juri Vips#BritishGP #F1 pic.twitter.com/UjsFFSLtm7
— F1 To Rule Them All (@F1RulesMedia) July 1, 2022
“We felt that you know we have made a very strong statement through action of actually dropping Juri from the team…of course we’re fully behind Lewis, we’re fully signed up to the Hamilton commission. We felt that actions sometimes talk louder than words and the action that we took with Juri, you know, which obviously was Draconian but but in line with the policy that we have.”
The incident took place ahead of the Silverstone weekend. Understandably, Hamilton has received an immense amount of support from the F1 community, several entities, and his home crowd.
Red Bull and Max Verstappen give out supportive messages for Lewis Hamilton
ADVERTISEMENT
Article continues below this ad
Hamilton’s home crowd gave a severe treatment to Verstappen though. While some of it could’ve been from last year’s Abu Dhabi debacle, home races are usually troublesome for rival title contenders. However, Horner revealed how Verstappen also supports the seven-time world champion over Piquet’s comments.
The team principal said, “Max is absolutely clear that he is fully supportive. He’s stated that in the press conference yesterday. He’s fully supportive of Lewis and not just Lewis but any form of racism or discrimination in the sport. And as Red Bull…”
ADVERTISEMENT
Article continues below this ad
Watch This Story: F1 Stars Max Verstappen, George Russell Enjoy Miami Heats Dominant Surge at NBA Playoffs
So, what are your thoughts about the incident? Share your take on Horner’s words.