War of Words: Christian Horner and Andrea Stella Clash in F1 Rivalry

2024-07-03 15:12:00

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A war of words between the two bosses

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Everyone remembers the endless disputes between Christian Horner and Toto Wolff in 2021… are we heading, in 2024, for a similar rivalry between Christian Horner and Andrea Stella?

Earlier today we reported Christian Horner’s offensive remarks towards Lando Norris. To Boss Milton Keynes, the driver was McLaren F1 “Learn to drive an F1 car” against Max Verstappen – that is, the Dutchman’s hard (but fair according to Horner) way of doing it.

Horner also emphasized Norris’ responsibility for the incident: “It was the way it would be [Norris] he wanted to cause something after his 3” Horner threw at Norris.

As a reminder, the FIA found Max Verstappen guilty of the accident in Austria: the Red Bull driver lost two points on his license and received a 10 second penalty.

Of course, Christian Horner’s statements were not passed on to Andrea Stella. Not at all!

The McLaren F1 boss today went so far as to question the integrity of his Milton Keynes colleague…

“This kind of statement is quite unimaginable, I would say. And to some extent, I think that speaks to the integrity of the person who did it. »

The load is heavy and the war of words has been well and truly launched between Red Bull and McLaren F1… like three years ago, between Toto Wolff and the same Christian Horner, the nostalgia will fade.

But for Stella, Max Verstappen and Red Bull are not the only ones to blame: the FIA could also have acted earlier. For example by waving a black and white flag against Red Bull’s overly aggressive defenses, to prevent the incident.

“The whole battle was very entertaining, it was great to see this kind of battle to win a race, and it’s a shame we couldn’t see this battle continue to the end. »

“It was a hard battle – to some extent within the rules – but at some point we started to have maneuvers that should be dealt with immediately, so that both pilots were aware of the situation. We should have told them ‘we are checking that you are following the rules’. In particular I think Max should have been informed that certain movements were not possible during braking maneuvers. »

“From there, there would have been more caution on the maneuver that ended the two drivers in the end. And unfortunately for our champion, this also means that Max was able to score 10 points more than us. »

“So the battle itself was great, but because we didn’t deal with the behavior of the pilots… I think it escalated. »

“This is a missed opportunity, because if you get clear earlier, and definitely, how to race … you’ll be able to prevent these kinds of things from happening.” »

“We know the difficulties that the commissioners face. »

“They have to monitor everything, they have to understand what’s going on in the minds of the best drivers in the world – these drivers know how to do things, they know how to hide things and they have they know how to play with the limits. »

“So it’s a difficult task for the FIA and the stewards. But this is an opportunity to review everything we learned over the weekend and decide how we can quickly strengthen what needs to be strengthened. So that we can enjoy this type of racing and we hope that the cars involved in this type of fight will face the checkered flag. »

Stella wants Max Verstappen to slow down his driving

Stella then confronts Max Verstappen: you have to agree to let your car pass when your pursuit is faster!

“In general, we have a lot of respect for Max. What he achieves is incredible – he’s a great driver. You don’t have to defend yourself like this. »

“Sometimes you have to accept that the car behind him has to have a chance, and that’s what would happen if Lando had overtaken with the DRS. So, on the next lap, also with the DRS, Max would have gone there and it would have been an incredible sight. We didn’t have that show, but hopefully we’ll see it in the future, with regulations being enforced and drivers fighting within the regulations. »

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