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Red Bull Racing team principal Christian Horner drew a contrast between Max Verstappen and McLaren's Lando Norris during the 2024 Hungarian Grand Prix after the latter was asked to switch places with his teammate. As heard on the latest season of Netflix's Drive to Survive, Horner claimed that Verstappen wouldn't have followed the team orders.
McLaren grew extremely competitive throughout the 2024 season and constantly battled for victories. However, the team made multiple decisions that hampered their chances. One such happened during the Hungarian GP when the team pitted their drivers in the wrong order. This gave Lando Norris the lead, despite his teammate Oscar Piastri dominating the track all day.
The team then asked Norris to give back the position to his teammate, and he was seemingly hesitant at first. This created quite a bit of tension within the garage as Norris did not seem to slow down. However, he did slow down before the final lap and Piastri was able to clinch his maiden F1 win.
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Reacting to this, Christian Horner could be heard mentioning that Max Verstappen wouldn't have followed the orders to give the lead to his teammate.
"I guarantee you Max Verstappen wouldn't have swapped," Horner could be heard telling his crew, reacting to Norris's move.
Infamously, Max Verstappen refused to give position to his teammate Sergio Perez during the 2022 Brazilian Grand Prix. He received criticism for the move.
Max Verstappen's hunt for fifth title under question as Red Bull engineer delivers verdict on 2025 challenger
Red Bull lost their dominance on the grid last year, which resulted in the team dropping to third place in the championship. Max Verstappen, however, was able to clinch his fourth consecutive World Championship because of his early wins and consistent finishes.
Heading into the next season, a major question stands ahead for the team considering their performance. After the end of the pre-season testing at the Bahrain International Circuit, Pierre Wache, RBR's technical director, mentioned that he was satisfied with the car, however, they would have to make some changes.
"I am not as happy as I could be because the car did not respond how we wanted at times, but it is going in the right direction," Wache said (via The Race). "Just maybe the magnitude of the direction was not as big as we expected and it’s something we need to work on for the first race and future development."
Verstappen will be joined by his new teammate, Liam Lawson, this year. He was called in from VCARB as Sergio Perez's replacement.
Red Bull witnessed major changes last year with Adrian Newey, F1's aero wizard, leaving the team.
