“Obviously he had a large amount of frustration last weekend, the way things played out, in a scenario we haven’t seen before and a subsequent grid penalty. He turned that into motivation and made a blinding start, led the race into the first corner and won the Grand Prix, which is the best possible response.
“A lot has been made of it yesterday. It’s pantomime season, we’re getting ready for Christmas, there’s maybe an element of end-of-term blues there, but I don’t think it’ll have any effect on the Grand Prix itself.”
READ MORE: Verstappen says he ‘lost all respect’ for Russell after stewards’ hearing in Qatar over qualifying incident
Reflecting further on Verstappen’s comments about the stewards’ hearing, Horner added: “Max does nothing but tell the truth so I believe 100 per cent what he said to be accurate.
“There [were] other people in those stewards’ rooms as well, and they also came back and reported that they were quite surprised at the approach that was taken.”
