Horner: FIA too "zealous" with Verstappen penalty

Verstappen locked up on the entry to Turn 2 on the opening lap which led to him running wide into the side of teammate Ricciardo. The incident damaged Ricciardo's car and forced him out of the race.

Ricciardo was initially fuming over the matter, and the FIA was swift in blaming Verstappen. It handed him a punishment that cost him a chance of fighting for the podium.

Horner thinks that the 10-second punishment was a bit harsh for an opening lap incident, especially considering Valtteri Bottas had got away without sanction for an incident at the Spanish GP that triggered Verstappen's early exit there.

"I think they were perhaps a little zealous when you look at Bottas' move in Barcelona," said Horner. "We have talked about racing incidents happening - and I see that as a racing incident.

"Yes, Max made a mistake. He stuck his hand up. He has apologised to his teammate. Daniel has accepted that apology and it happens.

"I think we have actually been lucky to have gone well over 12 months with them starting next to each other so often, without them having touched previously. Obviously there was no intention in it, it was just very frustrating."

Ricciardo placated

Despite Ricciardo's initial fury – and television images showing him flicking his middle finger at Verstappen from the side of the track – Horner said the Australian calmed down later when his teammate said sorry.

Reflecting on Ricciardo's initial anger, Horner said: "You take your helmet off. You have just been eliminated from the grand prix. He is not going to go 'oops'. He was pretty revved afterwards. But with an hour to calm down, it is situation normal I would say."

Asked how important it was that the two drivers had cleared the air in person, Horner said: "Massively. You have to be able to look the other person in the eye. A text message or a phone call is not the same."

Win chance

Although there was a phase in the race where Verstappen was less than 10 seconds off the lead, Horner does not think the team lost the win in Hungary through the first-lap crash.

Instead, he suggests the win was lost through not qualifying higher up the grid.

"I think we saw that, from the grid positions we were in, that overtaking was very difficult," he said. "But certainly the pace of the car in the race gave nothing away to Ferrari or that of Mercedes.

"You could see after he served the penalty that he was actually able to get back to within, at one point, ten seconds of the leader, and was consistently the quickest car on the circuit.

"So it is frustrating that we only came away with 10 points when it should have been a lot more."