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Max Verstappen recently expressed his opinion on the press coverage of the Red Bull investigation on Christian Horner and his father Jos Verstappen’s comments about it. Speaking to media including Sportskeeda in Saudi Arabia, the Dutchman stated that he prefers to focus on his performance and hopes the team atmosphere is not affected by it.
After the Bahrain GP, Verstappen Sr. had commented about Horner’s presence in the team as a difficult situation going ahead. The former F1 driver suggested that the Briton was playing the victim and creating problems in the team. Addressing the on-site press after his father’s comments, Max Verstappen felt that Red Bull needed a peaceful atmosphere to work. He felt that he and Horner co-exist peacefully in the team and instead preferred to focus on the performance.
Asked if he could co-exist with Horner in the team after Jos’ comments, Max Verstappen replied:
“We are at the moment."
Asked if it will come down to Red Bull choosing between him and Horner, he replied:
“I saw a lot of stories about that, which is not very good to read. But from my side, what I want – and that doesn’t matter who’s involved in the team or not – is to have, of course, a quiet environment where everyone is happy to work.”
“It’s not about being isolated from it. I think you could see in Bahrain that it doesn’t affect the performance of the team. Of course, ideally, as a team, you wouldn’t like to have these kinds of moments, but it also shows that I think we are all quite focused on our job and that’s of course to perform on the track.”
Max Verstappen defended Jos Verstappen and his relationship with his father
Max Verstappen also stated that he worked as a team with his father Jos Verstappen along with his manager Raymond Vermeulen. Despite Jos’ comments about Horner, the Dutch champion claimed that his father is outspoken but he's not a liar. The former F1 driver is suspected of being behind the WhatsApp message leaks that were sent to several journalists and top F1 personnel.
The three-time world champion also stated that he wished not to speak on matters unrelated to performance since that remained his and Red Bull’s primary focus.
Asked if he believes Jos regretted his comments about Horner, Max Verstappen said:
“From how I know him, he’s always very outspoken. He’s not a liar, that’s for sure. I was with him until yesterday. We speak all the time, we’re a team. It’s me, my dad, and Raymond all together. That will always be like that, also, but I guess he clearly felt like that. From my side, it doesn’t matter, being on one side or the other side. As a son of my dad, it’d be weird to be on a different side.”
“But, from my side, I just want to focus on the performance side of things. I just want to have less talk of what we are doing as a team outside of the track than the actual performance which, at the moment, I think we have a great car and we’re looking forward to a great year.”
Despite the ongoing rumors and speculation surrounding Max Verstappen potentially moving to Mercedes for 2025 and beyond, the Dutchman was defiant about not commenting on any of the rumors.
The triple world champion is currently contracted with Red Bull Racing until 2028. Having won the first race of the 2024 season, Verstappen has been tipped for a fourth title as his team dominated the Sakhir circuit in Bahrain.
