Red Bull team principal Christian Horner has slammed Mercedes boss Toto Wolff for showing a “total lack of understanding”, after the Austrian criticised Max Verstappen’s dominance.
The reigning World Champion is currently in a complete league of his own and claimed his 12th win of the season last weekend at the Italian Grand Prix, which also marked his 10th win in a row.
This saw the Dutchman eclipse Sebastian Vettel’s record of nine consecutive wins, which he achieved whilst racing for Red Bull in 2013.
Very few believed that Vettel’s record could be broken; however, it looks likely that Verstappen will smash it out of the park.
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His dominant run of form is showing no signs of ending, with some pondering whether he could win all eight remaining races this season, starting at the upcoming Singapore Grand Prix.
Wolff was incredibly salty in defeat and has been criticised by many for being unsportsmanlike, as he insisted that Verstappen’s new record is simply “for Wikipedia”.
The Mercedes team principal also insisted that Red Bull are designing the car specifically to tailor Verstappen’s needs, something the 25-year-old dismissed.
Verstappen prefers a car with a very sharp front end, so that it goes exactly where he wants it to.
Verstappen rejected Wolff’s claims and has since received the support of Horner, who slammed his rival for thinking that’s “how a race car and team develop”.
“Well, I think I completely agree with Max,” Horner said, via Sky Sports.
“It shows a total lack of understanding of how a race car and team develop, if Toto thinks that we’re developing a car around a single driver.
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“You develop a car to be as quick as you can and sometimes quick cars are difficult cars – that’s what’s historically been the case.
“I think that drivers adapt. The good drivers that you see in wet conditions, mixed conditions, varied conditions, the elite, they adapt quickly and I think that’s one of his (Verstappen’s) key skill sets is his ability to adapt to the feeling and the grip levels that a car gives him.
“But there’s certainly no direction to say, ‘oh, we tailor something to suit one specific driver’, we’re just trying to design and build the fastest car that we can, that our tools, our simulation or our wind tunnel provide us with that direction.”