Christian Horner has praised Red Bull's Gianpiero Lambiase for his firm stance and strong character when dealing with Max Verstappen, saying the race engineer is the team's very own 'Jason Statham'.
The communication between Verstappen and his long-standing race engineer caught everyone's attention in Friday's qualifying at the Belgian Grand Prix, when the pair disagreed on the run plan.
But the intensity of the radio exchanges escalated on race day when Lambiase urged Verstappen to "use your head more" in the closing stages of the race given the degradation of the Dutchman's soft tyres.
In a light-hearted response, Verstappen suggested undertaking an extra stop for "pit stop training," which Lambiase promptly dismissed.
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Commenting on the pair's communication, Horner commended Lambiase for remaining firm and resolute while dealing with 'tough customer" Verstappen.
Horner playfully drew a comparison between Lambiase and rugged Hollywood action hero Jason Statham.
"I think to race engineer Max Verstappen you've got to have strength of character, because he is one tough customer," Horner said.
"Many race engineers would crumble under that pressure and GP has got the strength of character to deal with that.
"GP is our Jason Statham equivalent, I guess, they certainly look alike...! He deals with him firmly but fairly and there's a great respect between the two of them.
"The only problem is that conversation between the two of them, 200 million people are listening to. But there's a great bond and a great trust between the two. There's no counselling required."
At Spa, when all was said and done, Verstappen admitted that his reference to an extra pit stop had merely been an attempt to wing up his team.
"I know the team doesn’t like to do another stop, but I like to mention it, so they might get a bit nervous..." he said.
When it was suggested that Verstappen and Red Bull's unwavering supremacy this season has led to the two-time world champion being more relaxed behind the wheel, Horner said: "I think there's sometimes an element of that.
"But we have to remember the engineers and the performance engineers, they're living and breathing all the data they have in front of them.
"They can see, and they know their driver's driving style, they know what they're taking out of the car and so on.
"And I was asking GP: 'I know what he's doing, he's trying to build up a gap for a pitstop' and GP said: 'I think he's taking it pretty easy, all the metrics are massively under control.'
"So, it's having that trust and bond that's so important, which is what those two guys have. I mean, sometimes it gets a bit sparky between the two of them. But it'll calm down very quickly."
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