Red Bull Alerts Race Director About Rivals’ “Gamesmanship” Against Verstappen

Christian Horner, Red Bull team principal, revealed that his team asked the Canadian GP race director to monitor potential “gamesmanship” tactics from Formula 1 rivals against Max Verstappen.

The defending champion finds himself in a critical situation — just one penalty point away from a race ban following his collision with George Russell at the Spanish GP.

Tensions escalated during the final safety car period — Verstappen reported via team radio that Russell was braking too aggressively and maintaining more than 10 car lengths behind the safety car.

“It’s inevitable that there was going to be some potential gamesmanship,” said Horner. “We just asked them to keep an eye on it because it’s clear that kind of stuff goes on.”

Red Bull filed a post-race protest, though without Verstappen’s knowledge. The protest was ultimately rejected by stewards after six hours of deliberation — the protest fee being 2,000 Euros per submission.