The two Red Bull drivers were leading the first part of the Baku race after Charles Leclerc had pitted during the Virtual Safety Car to fit new tyres.
Race leader Sergio Pérez began to suffer from rear graining problems on his medium tyres, and began to see second-placed Max Verstappen closing in on him.
When the two were close, Pérez was told over the team radio not to fight, and Verstappen passed him at the end of the main straight to take the lead on lap 15.
While that swap of positions was interpreted by many as a calculated move to favor world leader Verstappen, Horner insists the situation was very different.
He said that at that point in the race, Verstappen was much faster than Perez, so there was no point in risking an accident with his drivers fighting for the lead.
“I think today was not strictly team orders,” explained the Red Bull manager. “It was just a matter of having a faster car and a slower car.”
“Max had a significant pace advantage over Checo at the time, who had quite a bit of graining on his rear tyres. So it was a question of: ‘guys, let’s not end up against the pit wall. If a car is faster, you know Give in and let’s focus on getting the best result for the team.”
Horner said memories of the 2018 Azerbaijan Grand Prix, when then-Red Bull drivers Daniel Ricciardo and Verstappen collided as they battled to win, had forced a revisiting of teamwork at the morning’s strategy meeting. Sunday.
“The pace difference between the two drivers was significant, and we discussed that already in the morning,” he continued.
“We told them: ‘Look, if you are competing with each other, leave yourselves space’. And they did so, because what happened in 2018 is still in our memory.”
“It was very important that the drivers, at this point in the championship, were fair to each other, because it is about getting the most points against Ferrari. We know they have a very fast car at the moment, but we have seen how fast they things can change. So we have to give priority to the team.”
Horner praised Pérez for accepting that decision during the race, acknowledging that the excessive tire degradation the Mexican was suffering from was probably the result of a setup that favored qualifying much more.
“I think Checo is a mature guy,” Horner said. “He understands the big picture and understands that it is a very, very long championship. He is in the best moment of his career after Monaco.”
“But I think maybe, looking at it once last weekend, maybe too much weight was put into qualifying in his setup, which caused graining at the rear. So that’s something to look at.”
“Max was certainly in better shape than Checo at the end of that first stint during the race,” he concluded.
