Red Bull's Christian Horner supports red flag decision at Australian Grand Prix
Christian Horner of Red Bull 2 Apr 2023
Red Bull boss Christian Horner believes the final red flag during the Australian GP was appropriate, despite the potential impact to Max Verstappen's race.
Kevin Magnussen's crash created a debris trail which prompted race director Niels Wittich to signal a red flag with three laps remaining.
This decision left Verstappen on pole for a potential two-lap sprint to the finish line, but with a high chance of losing his lead due to two previous bad starts.
Horner believes that while teams have traditionally preferred to avoid late red flags, he is open to considering their use.
"It was always going to be hugely frustrating when you get a red flag and a restart with three laps to go," Horner told Motorsport.com.
"When you're the leader, you can only lose from that point. You can understand the rationale between wanting to finish under racing conditions rather than cruising behind the safety car for three laps.
"They might have been able to clear the circuit and get it going, I don't know. Like all these things, there's always something to learn.
"It's something that has been discussed. I think there's always been a preference to finish under racing conditions, so if by stopping the race enabled them to tidy up the circuit, so rather than cruise out the remaining laps under a safety car, it's the right thing to do.
"The problem is, when you're the lead car and you've been controlling a 10s lead all afternoon suddenly it's a massive variable that becomes a bit of a lottery."
