Horner shouted ‘get him in’ at Verstappen’s race engineer during rain chaos

Verstappen was cruising towards another home victory at Zandvoort when a heavy deluge sparked chaos in the closing stages, resulting in a red flag after Zhou Guanyu aquaplaned into the barriers. 

The Dutchman was not immediately convinced about switching to intermediate tyres as the rain started to fall. But Horner took matters into his own hands, revealing he shouted “get him in” at Verstappen’s race engineer, Gianpiero Lambiase.  

“We were unsure what was going to happen with the weather - was it a few spots, was it going to go through?” Horner explained. 

“And at the end, I was shouting at GP: ‘get him in!”

Verstappen overcame both downpours to claim a record-equalling ninth consecutive victory, marking his 11th win from 13 races this season. 

Horner believes his team getting their strategy right in such challenging conditions was partly down to luck, and partly risk-management. 

"I think it's a combination of the two," he said. "There were so many things that could go wrong.

"We saw calls being made early on where cars dropped out of contention, into contention. 

“But we've done eight pitstops today and the team has nailed every one of them other than the one that Checo gave us about five seconds notice for. 

“So, it's been an incredible team performance."