On lap 10 of the Azerbaijan Grand Prix, early leader Verstappen was taken into the pit lane after he began to struggle with his rear tire and came under pressure from team-mate Sergio Perez.

The decision came after AlphaTauri’s Nyck de Vries stopped on the track after hitting the wall at Turn 5, a move that backfired for Red Bull when the safety car came out.

With Verstappen dropping to third, Perez and Ferrari driver Charles Leclerc made pit stops to maintain the lead over the Dutchman.

While the world champion quickly passed Leclerc at the ensuing restart, the timing of the pit stop meant Perez was the winner, with a solid performance to take home victory in good time.

Questions have been raised as to why Red Bull would have decided to pit Verstappen knowing there was a stationary car on the track, especially on a narrow street circuit in Baku where there was a lot of safety car intervention.

“At that point we decided to pit Max because the rear of his car was starting to struggle a bit and Checo was clearly behind him,” Horner said.

“So, we decided strategically that now is the best time to stop losses.”

In brief snapshots of de Vries’ stationary car, Red Bull failed to spot terminal damage to the AlphaTauri as the Dutchman hit the inside wall of Turn 5 and bent his front left corner.

“From the glimpse we got, all four wheels were on the car, he didn’t hit the guardrail, the engine was still running,” Horner added.

Nyck de Vries, AlphaTauri AT04, out of the game

Photography: Simon Galloway / motorsport pictures

“It looked like he would choose to back up and move on, so you never expect a safety car.

“Normally, if you see a car on a barricade here, it’s a safety car, but there’s no sign of it.

“It’s only in subsequent replays that you see that his steering column is broken.”

Red Bull even considered a double stop for Perez to avoid being weakened by Leclerc.

“Obviously, with 20/20 vision, you just have to do one more lap,” he added. “But then you just don’t know if Charles is going to pit, and then he jumps both of them out of the blue.

“We’re at a stage where we’re talking about preparing for a double-station. It’s one of those things where sometimes you’re lucky and sometimes you’re not.”

After a final lull on the hard tyres, Perez and points leader Verstappen secured Red Bull’s third 1-2 of the season, with Perez closing the gap on Verstappen to six points .