Red Bull boss Christian Horner's integrity questioned by McLaren team principal as tensions rise between the two squads

McLaren team principal Andrea Stella has questioned the integrity of Red Bull boss Christian Horner as tensions between the two teams continue to rise. The epicenter of all of this was the on-track incident between Lando Norris and Max Verstappen in Austria. The two drivers were battling for the race win, and it ended with both of them making contact and hence damaging their respective cars.

While Max Verstappen was able to rejoin the race after pitting for new tires, Lando Norris wasn't and had to retire the car. After the race, Max felt that the penalty was harsh for what was only a racing incident. Lando on the other hand made it clear that the blame lay with Max.

The McLaren driver even said that he would lose respect for the Red Bull driver if he didn't own up to his mistake. Talking about the incident, Christian Horner had termed the whole thing a racing incident after an aggressive battle. He did, however, say that Lando was trying to cause something by placing the car on the outside in turn 3.

In an interview with SiriusXM, McLaren team principal Andrea Stella questioned the integrity of the Red Bull boss for making such a statement. He said,

“I think this kind of statement is pretty irreceivable, I would say, and to some extent I think it speaks for the integrity of the person that said that,”

Talking about Max Verstappen, Andrea Stella said that everyone has so much respect for the Red Bull driver that he doesn't need to do such things. He said,

“In general, we have so much respect for Max. What he is achieving is unbelievable — he is a great driver. There is no need to defend like this. Sometimes you just have to accept that the car behind needs to have an opportunity, and I think that what would have happened if Lando had passed, then the next lap, with the DRS, Max would have gone for it, and it would have been an incredible spectacle."

He added,

“Which we missed, but hopefully we will be able to see in the future, with regulations that are enforced and both drivers fighting within the regulations.”

McLaren boss calls for timely and clear intervention from stewards

McLaren boss Andrea Stella also called for timely intervention from the stewards in the future. There were suggestions after the race that the stewards possibly took too much time to act on the battle between the two drivers, and action should have been taken once Max Verstappen had moved under braking on the very first attempt from Lando Norris. Stella said,

“I think there’s a little bit of missed opportunity here, because I think the earlier and the clearest way you can address the way we go racing, the more you will be able to prevent this kind of thing happening. But the FIA, the stewards, the race director, they do a tough job. We recognise the difficulties in which they operate."

One battle between the two drivers that went too far has already led to a war of words between Red Bull and McLaren. Whether it leads to something more, or not, at Silverstone remains to be seen.