Red Bull team principal Christian Horner extended the olive branch to Mercedes after the pit lane incident in Miami.

Said incident occurred during the sprint race and saw Red Bull’s Max Verstappen collide with Mercedes’ Kimi Antonelli in the pit lane, and with Verstappen penalised for an unsafe release, Horner took the chance to apologise to Antonelli and Mercedes.

Red Bull apologise to Kimi Antonelli after ‘human error’

With the Miami track rapidly drying through the Sprint after unexpected heavy rain, the slick tyres became an intriguing gamble, once which the drivers ultimately took en masse.

But, as Red Bull called in Verstappen from P3 and Mercedes boxed Antonelli from P4, Verstappen was released into the path of Antonelli, who had begun his turn into the Mercedes pit box next door.

Antonelli showed quick reactions to turn back out, but could not avoid Verstappen hitting the rear right of his Mercedes. That resulted in a broken front wing for Verstappen and a 10-second time penalty for an unsafe release, but thankfully, no crew members at Red Bull and Mercedes were unhurt.

Following the sprint, Mercedes team boss Toto Wolff had expressed his shock over a “total lack of judgement” from Red Bull.

“I mean, if it was the main race, that would be seriously annoying,” Wolff told Sky F1.

“But, I’m surprised about a total lack of judgement there, because it wasn’t even close of releasing without any security concerns.

“So, somebody panicked there.”

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Verstappen finished P17 and last in the sprint after the penalty was applied, the mini-race having finished behind the Safety Car after Fernando Alonso was spun into the wall by Liam Lawson.

Antonelli, meanwhile, scored one point in P8 after penalties for Liam Lawson and Oliver Bearman, the teenager having missed out on the chance to fit dry tyres due to that Verstappen collision.

Verstappen would rebound to take pole for Sunday’s Miami Grand Prix, with Antonelli coming agonisingly close to making it a pair of poles. 0.067s down on Verstappen, he was forced to settle for P3.

And Horner took the chance after qualifying to issue an apology to Antonelli.

“After the sprint race, I mean, that was tough, really unfortunate,” Horner began, speaking with Sky F1.

“It was a human error. We have to apologise to Kimi, you know. And these things happen. But, as a team, we look at it, we work out, ‘Okay, where can we be better?’

“And you’re talking about a judgment of about a meter. And of course, there was the undercut was potentially on, the determination to try and get the car back out there, but it was just a misjudgement. It can happen. But, it just demonstrates you’re always learning in this business.”

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