Horner delivers ‘taking the piss’ quip after lucky Norris escape

Christian Horner believes McLaren "got away with" Lando Norris pushing to the extend he did during the Singapore Grand Prix.

The British driver eased out to an over 20-second advantage in the opening stint of the race at the Marina Bay Street Circuit, with Max Verstappen unable to respond. 

That delta grew to half a minute after the pit stops, with the 24-year-old admitting he wanted the buffer of an extra pit stop gap, should he need it.

With McLaren urging Norris on, telling him he could push more, during the first phrase of the race, Horner was asked if he was surprised at how much pace the MCL38 had.

“Yeah, that was taking the piss," the 50-year-old joked to media including RacingNews365 before musing: "Although I shouldn’t say that in a legal capacity.

"I mean, the pace he [Norris] had in hand at that point in time was - at that point, we’ve conceded the race on pace, obviously.

"He touched the wall for the first time, then he touched it for the second time. But, they’ve got it got away with it."

Norris eventually dropped his pace and Verstappen crossed the chequered flag just under 21 second behind.

Despite the dominant manner in which McLaren won, it is not all doom and gloom for Red Bull, who were not anticipated to be in the hunt for podiums - given the team's recent struggles at in Singapore and the difficulties it has been enduring with the troublesome RB20.

Nevertheless, Horner still acknowledged the work that needs to be done prior to the United States Grand Prix, even if "real progress" has been made.

"I actually think Max drove a very strong race today, and that was what we had, which, when you consider where we were a couple of weeks ago, I think we have made some real progress," the Red Bull team principal said.

"And, obviously, we’ve got a lot of work to do before Austin.”