Christian Horner reveals cause of Red Bull blunder in Kimi Antonelli apology

Christian Horner has apologised to Kimi Antonelli after Red Bull, via Max Verstappen, ruined the Mercedes drivers' sprint at the Miami Grand Prix.

The 18-year-old had started the one-third-distance race in Florida on pole, but lost the lead - and a number of places - at the first corner.

On a drying circuit, the field began filing into the pits to swap onto slick Pirelli tyres, when disaster struck.

Coming in together on lap 13 of 18 in third and fourth, respectively, Verstappen attempted to pull out of his pit box just as Antonelli was coming into his.

The pair collided, causing damage to the front wing of the Red Bull and, painfully, preventing the Mercedes from making its way into its own pit box at all, thus essentially consigning Antonelli to a drive through penalty before successfully pitting for fresh rubber the following lap.

"Guys, come on!" Verstappen exclaimed over team radio in response to the Red Bull miscalculation, with the stewards handing down a 10-second time penalty to the four-time F1 drivers' champion for an unsafe release, dropping him from fourth to P17 at the chequered flag.

The incident left Antonelli to finish outside the points on the road in P11, before multiple penalties, including the Dutchman's, elevated him back up to seventh - but still a far cry from his high hopes for the race.

Whilst Verstappen went on to claim a superb pole position for the grand prix later on in the afternoon, Horner was quick to say sorry to the Italian driver for the error.

"The sprint race, that was tough," the 51-year-old told Sky Sports F1. "Really unfortunate.

"It was a human error. We have to apologise to Kimi. These things happen, but as a team, we look at it, we work out: 'Okay, where can we be better?'"

The Briton highlighted how the raised stakes of the moment contributed to the mistake, with both McLarens having not pitted from the lead and presenting an opportunity to capitalise on.

"You're talking about a judgement of about a metre," Horner explained. "And of course, there was the undercut potentially on.

"The determination is 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."