Christian Horner praises ‘on fire’ Max Verstappen but dismisses notion of Red Bull domination

Verstappen has a 116-point lead in the Drivers Championship having won five races on the bounce

Christian Horner described Max Verstappen as “on fire” after his fifth straight race victory at the Italian Grand Prix on Sunday.

Verstappen started seventh on the grid but stormed through the field and eventually held off Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc at the end as the race finished behind the safety car at Monza.

The Championship leader has now won the last five Grands Prix and with a 116-point lead with six races left, the 24-year-old could win his second world title as soon as Singapore in two weeks’ time.

Red Bull team principal Horner was full of praise for the Dutchman while also praising the team in the garage and on the pit wall.

“Max’s pace – to come through so quickly – was really encouraging,” Horner told Sky F1. “You could see with Checo [Sergio Perez] as well, coming back from that early flat spot – he had tremendous pace.”

“We got the strategy right today, but ultimately we had a fast car and Max is just on fire at the moment – I don’t think anything was going to stop him.

“I think the whole team this year has delivered at such a high level. Our performance this weekend - I think we had the quickest race car. We compromised qualifying slightly to have that better race car and it paid off.”

Christian Horner described Max Verstappen as “on fire” after his fifth straight race victory (AFP via Getty Images)

As well as Verstappen’s lead in the Drivers Championship, Red Bull also have a healthy 139-point lead to Ferrari in the Constructors’ Championship.

However, asked if this could be the start of a Red Bull era of domination in the manner of Mercedes from 2014-2021, Horner dismissed their chances.

“I can only wish to inflict that amount of pain on Toto [Wolff] over the next eight years,” Horner joked.

“It (Red Bull domination) is very unlikely. We’ve just had a wonderful year and the team are performing at a very high level right now. But Ferrari are fast and Mercedes are getting back on their feet.”