“It’s clear any of these top four teams are a front wing or a floor away from an upgrade to go, ‘those are the ones we now need to chase’. I do think the warmer weather plays to our strengths a bit, so I think that’s why we were maybe a bit quicker in the day in Saudi and Bahrain. I hope that theory is right because I think it’s going to be hot in Miami.”
Horner, meanwhile, stated his view that Verstappen had nowhere to go during the battle with Piastri when speaking to Sky Sports F1.
Asked if there had been any conversation around giving the place back – or whether the focus was more on breaking out of the five-second window – Horner answered: “We had that sort of discussion with the Race Director before the race through briefings and whatever else.
“We have this notion of ‘let them race’ – I don’t know where Max was supposed to go at that first corner. We’ve lost the race by [2.8] seconds so, yeah, it’s tough. I think the most positive thing for us today was the pace was there – it was a very positive race. Congrats to Oscar, but [it’s] disappointing not to get the win.”
Horner went on to reflect on the squad’s race pace in the first stint, adding: “We pulled a gap. Let’s not forget, on Friday, McLaren had 1.2s on everybody.
“Max was feeling comfortable out there. He was pulling out the gap, we were trying to get the gap at the pit stop even with the penalty but it wasn’t to be. [We got] good points, important points today. We’re only 12 points off the lead of the championship, we’ve taken a few points out of Lando [Norris] so, yeah, everything to play for.”
