20 January 2023 , 16:54
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Christian Horner insists there are no lingering ill feelings between Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez as they prepare for another season as Red Bull team-mates.
There were very few blots on Red Bull's 2022 season, given how imperious they were throughout most of the campaign. But one of them did come in the penultimate race, the Brazilian Grand Prix.
It was a rare off weekend for the team. In a reverse to much of the rest of the season, it was Mercedes who were on song and leading from the front while Red Bull just couldn't find the pace to fight at the front.
On the final lap of the race, Verstappen was asked, while running in sixth, to allow his team-mate past. Perez needed the extra couple of points in his fight with Charles Leclerc for second place in the drivers' championship, while the Dutchman had already won the title at a canter.
But still he refused, explaining to his team over the radio that he had already "given his reasons", while Perez remarked that the incident "shows who he [Verstappen] really is". Despite those signs of a rift between them, team principal Horner says it is now water under the bridge.
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He said: "I think the root cause of the problem was we had never envisaged being in a situation, being in the final few laps, being in sixth and seventh place in that Grand Prix.
Christian Horner insists that Brazil incident is now water under the bridge"And I think it was something that, as we hadn't envisaged it, we hadn't discussed it, before the race, and I think, that was a mistake on our part, that we should have thought through, or tried to think through every single scenario.
"So, I think that was a mistake as a team that we didn't discuss it and come up with a very clear plan. Obviously, it was unfortunate what happened, but it was quickly discussed, openly and transparently. And both drivers were very clear, open, and honest with each other, and from that, as a team, we move on and the dynamic between the drivers is absolutely fine.
"We made some mistakes in Brazil, we've learned from that and, as I say, we move on. We've done some amazing things. These two drivers have performed incredibly well together. They're the reason that we are in the position that we are... So, we're not going to let the events of a couple of laps in Brazil dictate the year for us."