‘No risk, no fun’ - How Red Bull’s late owner is still influencing the F1 team

Max Verstappen was the first driver of the leading group to pit for fresh rubber on Lap 20 of the race.

At that point, Verstappen had a comfortable buffer over Charles Leclerc, however, ahead of the race, Red Bull had already committed to a two-stop strategy with two hard tyres left in their allocation.

Speaking after the race, Horner made reference to Mateschitz - who passed away just over 12 months ago.

“Dietrich used to tell us ‘no risk, no fun’,” Horner said. “We went into the race thinking the compounds were all a step softer. We felt that it was on the limit last year.

“We took two sets of hard tyres into the race so let’s go for a two-stop, and see if it works.

“It meant that we’d lose track position but we felt that we had the pace to come back and win it on a two-stop.

“It would have been really competitive. It got neutralised by the red flag. I was relieved to see Ferrari put a set of hard tyres on the car, not mediums.”

Both Red Bulls made fantastic starts from third and fifth on the grid respectively.

Horner heaped praise on his engineers for improving that element of the RB19.

“Our starts haven’t been our strongest point this year,” he added. “There has been a variance to them, and that’s because it’s so difficult to manage the torque, and everything that’s going on. The control guys did a great job today. 

“Great starts from Checo and Max in the first run. Then at the restart, Max getting that blinder, as well.”