German GP showed Verstappen is ‘team player’ - Horner

Red Bull’s Christian Horner says last Sunday’s German Grand Prix brought evidence that Max Verstappen is “beyond any doubt a team player”, after the Dutchman allowed Daniel Ricciardo through at Hockenheim.

Having overhauled the Australian at the start, Verstappen ran in second place during the first stint before Red Bull split strategies. Ricciardo then caught his team-mate while running on the supersoft tyre ahead of their third and final pit stops.

At that time, pole sitter Nico Rosberg had recovered from his poor start to P2 and was pushing to open a gap to offset his pending five-second time penalty. Verstappen, who has resisted team orders in the past, was then asked to move over so Ricciardo could chase the Mercedes driver.

“After Rosberg had picked up his penalty, the objective was very much to ensure that we got both drivers ahead,” Horner said.

"While Daniel was on the faster tyre and closing very quickly on Max, we asked that he release him quickly, rather than lose time fighting each other, to ensure that both of them were able to get ahead of Rosberg with his five-second penalty.

"Max immediately did that efficiently, and [the double podium] is a result of great team work between the whole team, including the two race drivers."

“He has demonstrated beyond any doubt that he is a team player, and the way the two drivers operated was good.”

Verstappen declared after the race that he “definitely took one for the team”, with the 18-year-old confident that he could have claimed second instead of third at Hockenheim.

2016 German Grand Prix - Driver ratings

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