JEDDAH, Saudi Arabia — Max Verstappen says his intention is “absolutely to stay” with Red Bull in Formula One but does not see a time when he races without his father by his side.
Verstappen’s father, Jos, said last week that Red Bull risked being “torn apart” if team principal Christian Horner remained in his role after controversy surrounding an investigation into allegations of inappropriate behavior towards a female employee.
The employee’s grievance was dismissed last week, but an anonymous leak of messages allegedly sent by Horner led to fresh scrutiny of his position.
Jos Verstappen told the Daily Mail that Red Bull Racing was “in danger of being torn apart” and would “explode” if Horner continued as team principal, taking the fracture within the team public.
Speaking for the first time since his father made the comments, Max Verstappen said his focus lay chiefly on the team’s performance and was not drawn on potential divides within Red Bull.
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But he said he never envisions a time when he races without Jos and his manager, Raymond Vermeulen, as part of his entourage.
“We’re a team,” Verstappen said. “It’s me, my dad and Raymond altogether. And that will always be like that, also.
“I guess he clearly felt like that. But I think from my side, it doesn’t matter, being on one side or the other side. Of course, as a son of my dad, it would 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.”
Verstappen claimed that he was not aware of things happening “higher up” in the team and that he was focused on the car’s performance after starting his title defense with a dominant victory in Bahrain on Saturday.
Asked if he agreed with Jos’s comment that the team could “explode” if Horner stayed, Verstappen replied: “I don’t know. I hope not! I shouldn’t be. It’s a strong company, it’s a strong team, a lot of strong team members, so normally not.”
He added there were “always things that can be worked out,” and he thought “everyone is man enough and respectful enough to each other anyway in that sense.”
The growing fractures within Red Bull’s senior F1 management have led to suggestions that Verstappen could leave the team if Horner were to remain in his role.
Since the last race in Bahrain, Horner held talks with Verstappen’s manager in Dubai before traveling to Saudi Arabia for this weekend’s grand prix in Jeddah.
Verstappen pointed out that he and Horner were in the same team together at the moment and that he found the stories suggesting one of them would have to leave “a bit weird to read.”
“But from my side, what I want, and that doesn’t matter who is involved in the team or not, is to have a quiet environment where everyone is happy to work,” Verstappen said.
Verstappen’s teammate, Sergio Pérez, was openly supportive of Horner, saying he had “not only my support (but) the full team is fully behind him.
“He’s obviously a very important person in our organization, and the job he has done over the years speaks for itself,” Pérez said. “I think Christian is a key team player in this organization, and I think he’s fully focused on the racing side.”
Multiple outlets, including De Telegraaf and BBC Sport, reported FIA president Mohammed Ben Sulayem privately asked Verstappen in a meeting last week to publicly back Horner.
“I’m not going to say yes or no about things, because he came to me in private,” Verstappen said when asked to clarify the report. “Maybe people heard something, but I’m not going to say yes or no about that.”
Suggestions that Verstappen will leave Red Bull have led to links with a shock switch to Mercedes, which needs to sign a replacement for the Ferrari-bound Lewis Hamilton in 2025. Verstappen is under contract at Red Bull until 2028.
The links to Mercedes only grew when Jos Verstappen was spotted speaking to Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff outside the Mercedes motorhome after Saturday’s race in Bahrain, and reports they had dinner together earlier in the week.
“The intention is, of course, absolutely to stay with this team because I really enjoy it, and I’m really happy within the team,” Verstappen said. “As long as we perform, there is no reason to leave.”
Jos Verstappen was always due to skip this weekend’s race in Saudi Arabia due to a rally event in Belgium, but he is not expected to attend a grand prix in the coming weeks.
Asked if he thought his father regretted the comments, Verstappen said: “I haven’t asked that, but my dad is, from how I know him, is always very outspoken. He’s not a liar, that’s for sure. That is from my side what I can say about things.
“But I think in general in the team, it’s important from every side of the team that we can finally talk about the great performance of the car that we have.
“No one is really mentioning that too much in the last few days, unfortunately.”
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(Photo: Mark Thompson / Getty Images)
