Horner praises Verstappen for 'great patience' after Aussie GP start

Red Bull team boss Christian Horner praised Australian Grand Prix winner Max Verstappen for biding his time after losing out to both Mercedes drivers at the start of the race.

From pole, Verstappen was overtaken by George Russell into the first corner, before an aggressive Lewis Hamilton elbowed his way past the Dutchman into Turn 3.

Verstappen was none too pleased with the maneuver, quipping on the radio that Hamilton had pushed him off the track.

But there was no investigation by the stewards and Verstappen patiently sat behind the pair of battling Mercedes until a safety car triggered by Alex Albon's crash prompted Russell to pit.

The subsequent red flag then gave the leaders a free tyre change, with Hamilton remaining ahead for two laps after the second start. But eventually, Verstappen made short work of his rival, breezing past with DRS and settling into a commanding lead for the remainder of the afternoon.

"Obviously Max had to make the pass on Lewis," commented Horner. "The two Mercedes were fast starting, they were very aggressive on the first lap, Max showing great patience really not to get embroiled.

"George got a blinder, and he just sent it down into the first corner so Max got out of that, and by getting out of it to allow him through that then compromised him through T2.

"And then Fernando [Alonso] and Lewis get a run on him and then Lewis sends a missile down into T3."

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Horner noted Verstappen's calm approach in dealing with events.

"Again, I thought he showed great patience to get out of the way," he said. "It was hard racing between the two of them, and then of course the race was just getting going, and it was quite a fight between the three of them at the front.

"Sounded like George wasn't happy about being pushed by Lewis, who in turn was being pushed hard by Max.

"Then they started having a go at each other, then they pitted George, then the red flag came out and then it was just a straight fight between Max and Lewis, and he made very short work of that.

"Then it was a question of controlling the race from that point onwards."

After the race, Verstappen justified his radio complaint over Hamilton's Turn 3 move.

"From my side, I just tried to avoid a contact," said the Dutchman. "It's quite clear in the rules what you're allowed to do now on the outside. But clearly it's not followed.

"But that's OK, we had good pace and we passed them anyway. But it's something for the next races to take into account."

Hamilton on the other judged his pass at Turn 3 as a fair and square move.

"I thought it was pretty decent," said the Mercedes charger. "I mean, he braked early and I braked late, and I was fully up the inside, and I think we both left space for each other.

"I didn't run him off the road and he didn't turn in on me. So we didn't touch, and that's racing."

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