"Christian Horner would’ve appealed the unsafe release": Max Verstappen fans unhappy with Red Bull for not appealing against Charles Leclerc

Max Verstappen fans online were unhappy to see Charles Leclerc's supposed unsafe release on lap 12 go unpunished, as the Monegasque finished ahead of the Red Bull driver at the Belgian Grand Prix. Some fans even joked that ex-boss Christian Horner would have definitely reported the incident to the stewards.

Leclerc edged out Verstappen to secure the final podium position at the Belgian GP. The Ferrari man looked largely unchallenged after an early race challenge from the Dutchman behind him while they were both on the intermediate tires.

But Leclerc did have an iffy moment as he came in to fit the slick tires on lap 12 of the race. He was released in the path of an oncoming Williams but a crash was avoided thanks to the width of the pitlane at Spa. But this moment was quickly forgotten, and no penalty came Ferrari's way.

Some Verstappen fans were left angry about this decision, and also at a lack of challenge from Red Bull as they were reminded of former team boss Christian Horner's competitive edge.

"Christian Horner would’ve appealed the unsafe release of Charles," said one fan. "Jonathan Wheatley, would have make sure of it. But we lost him," said another user. "Mekies doesn’t have that dog in him unfortunately," claimed another fan.

Here are some more reactions:

"Christian Horner would have bullied the fia into a wet weather race," joked a fan. "What’s about the unsafe release over the first @Charles_Leclerc pitstop???" replied one fan to the FIA's post of the unofficial race classification. "Yes, we need a cunning tp [team principal] again," said another user.

In the end, Verstappen ended the race in P4, after having started there. He was expected to take at least third in qualifying, but a mistake in the first corner on his final run in Q3 meant Leclerc pipped him by just 0.003 seconds on Saturday (July 26).

---

Max Verstappen rues technical decision after underwhelming Belgian GP outing

Max Verstappen chasing Charles Leclerc at the Belgian Grand Prix - Source: Getty

Max Verstappen agreed with his race engineer for the weekend, Simon Rennie, when the latter came over the team radio to discuss the choice of rear wing on the 27-year-old's RB21 after the Belgian GP. They both agreed that the heavier rear-wing stopped Verstappen from making any progress during the race.

After the Belgian GP concluded, Rennie came over the team radio and said:

"If we had known the conditions would be like this, if we didn't drive much in the wet, then yeah, it would've changed our rear wing choice." "Yeah, that was not ideal," replied Verstappen.

Red Bull decided to add a much heavier rear-wing on Verstappen's car after his Sprint win on Saturday, as a wet race was expected on Sunday. But the majority of the race was actually held in dry conditions after the race start was delayed.

Verstappen was much slower than Leclerc on the Kemmel straight as a result, which was his only real overtaking opportunity against the Ferrari.

Edited by Luke Koshi