Horner: Verstappen 'won't forget' Baku clash with Russell

Christian Horner says Max Verstappen "won't forget" his opening lap clash with George Russell in Saturday's Sprint event in Baku, a run-in that damaged the Dutchman's Red Bull and impaired his chances of success.

The two drivers came to blows as they ran through the first three corners of the race, with Russell running up the inside of Verstappen at Turn 1 before holding his own through the following corner and making contact with the Dutchman.

He then completed the pass through Turn 3 to seize third place although Verstappen would recoup the position later in the race after the restart.

But after the Sprint, the Red Bull driver confronted his Mercedes rival, criticizing his aggressive move while pointing to a significant hole in the left sidepod of his RB19.

Unimpressed, Russell brushed off Verstappen's frustrations, insisting he had "no grip", and then walking away from the latter as the Dutchman warned Russell "to expect the next time the same" before branding the Briton a "dickhead".

As he reviewed the on-track fight between the two drivers and Verstappen's race while speaking to Sky Sports, Horner reckoned that the damage inflicted by Russell's move to Verstappen's car had significantly impacted the Dutchman's performance.

"Turn 1, I can live with… Turn 2 is hard racing between hard racers," he said. "George runs him out wide [at Turn 3].

"He was understandably annoyed with that and voiced his opinion to George. It was probably good that he [George] left his crash helmet. You can understand that.

"He is a competitive driver, and when you get damage to your car, you will be disappointed.

"He is like an elephant. He won’t forget. He [Max] did a good job at the restart overtaking George then the tyres started to overheat.

"Then the damage he had.. the balance shifted. We could hear from Milton Keynes about how the balance shifted and was a big handicap."

• Read also: Verstappen fumes over Russell contact and damage in Sprint

On the other side of the Red Bull garage, Horner praised Sprint winner Sergio Perez for a job well done in the short distance mad dash.

The Mexican initially bided his time behind race leader Charles Leclerc, but after the Safety Car neutralization Perez easily breezed past the Ferrari on Baku's main straight with the help of the Red Bull's DRS.

"It was a brilliant race from Checo," acknowledged Horner.

"He was sensible one the first lap and wanted to be there in the first DRS zone because he wanted to get the job done quickly, so then he could start managing the tyres.

"He made that happen and had a blinding middle sector to make that happen. Then he used the short DRS and made the pass into Turn 1.

"He then was able to eke out a gap, whilst Charles was still trying to hang in the DRS. Once he broke it, he was able to manage the race comfortably."

Horner believed that Saturday's Sprint provided some very useful information, including on Ferrari's tyre degradation, that will help the team devise its strategy for Sunday's Grand Prix.

"That was like a long run in P2," added Horner. "We get to see our competitors’ degradation on that tyre.

"The Ferrari’s were struggling more on the second half of the stint. We have a lot of information from that session that we can apply to our strategy for tomorrow."

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