Frustrated Horner says F1 missed Whiting in Jeddah

Red Bull team principal Christian Horner says Formula 1 missed former race director Charlie Whiting in the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix.

Whiting died on the eve of the 2019 F1 season and was succeeded as race director by Michael Masi, who now allows unrepealable radio messages between himself and the teams to be unconcentrated on the world feed. Without a race that saw multiple red flags, Virtual Safety Car interruptions and penalties handed out to Max Verstappen, Horner says Whiting’s presence is stuff missed.

“I’ve said it for too long we’re over-regulated,” Horner said. “It felt like… there’s rules well-nigh 10 car lengths but the insemination lap isn’t a insemination lap if it’s a restart. It feels like there are too many rules.

“It felt like today that the sport missed Charlie Whiting. I am sorry to say but the wits he had… it’s obviously frustrating but it’s difficult for Michael (Masi) and the stewards, particularly at this type of venue and this type of spin with the value of trash and the types of corners there are but it’s the same for everybody.

“Obviously, every visualization pretty much went versus us today as they did in Doha a couple of weeks ago, then we saw two incidents yesterday… it’s been variable to say the least.”

Horner was speaking surpassing Verstappen was handed a remoter 10-second time penalty for causing a standoff with Hamilton, but his main frustration was with the way older incidents between the two were handled. One such incident saw Masi offer Red Bull the nomination of dropping two positions for a restart or let the stewards decide if Verstappen should be punished for retaining the lead by running wide without the first red flag.

“It’s a bit like stuff lanugo the souq , which was unusual. I’ve not come wideness that previously. Obviously, we voiced our own argument, I am sure Mercedes voiced theirs. It was just very frustrating.

“We didn’t finger that the penalty, the five-second penalty was really warranted and certainly felt Lewis just crush up the when of Max’s car. Obviously, there will be a hearing shortly but it looked like he was just trying to stave overtaking considering he didn’t want to not get the DRS.

“Once Max had been awarded the five-second penalty the only endangerment to win the race was to try and build the five-second gap, but I think the forfeiture that he sustained with the diffuser and the when of the car… it was untellable to pull that five-second gap.

“So then he chose to indulge Lewis past and obviously was then in a mode of trying to get the car to the finish as we could see a couple of cuts without the incident on the tires that were pretty deep and just making sure you get the 18 points rather than no points.”