Max Verstappen’s father says Red Bull will ‘explode’ if Christian Horner stays

LONDON – Red Bull risk being torn apart as a team and will “explode” if Christian Horner stays as principal, the Daily Mail newspaper quoted the father of triple world champion Max Verstappen as saying on March 2.

Horner, 50, was cleared last week by an independent investigation into allegations of misconduct made by a female employee.

The inquiry dominated the pre-season and Horner has remained in the spotlight after an e-mail from an anonymous sender, purporting to contain evidence submitted to the investigation, was distributed to media and key figures in the sport.

“There is tension here while he remains in position,” former Formula One racer Jos Verstappen told the British newspaper at the Bahrain Grand Prix, where his son dominated the season-opening race on March 2.

Max has won the last three championships in a row and the victory in Sakhir was the 55th of his career, all of them with Red Bull. Teammate Sergio Perez was second, while Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz rounded off the podium.

“The team is in danger of being torn apart. It can’t go on the way it is. It will explode. He is playing the victim, when he is the one causing the problems,” added Jos.

Max, however, had regularly backed his team principal since the scandal broke.

After bagging pole position on March 1, he said: “When I look at how Christian operates within the team, he has been an incredible team boss.

“So absolutely, from the performance side of things, you can’t even question that. So that’s what I’m also dealing with.

“I speak to Christian a lot. And also, of course, throughout the weekend here, he’s fully committed to the team. He’s also here for the performance, of course. Probably a little bit distracted.”

On March 3, Jos told the BBC that he had made the remarks after a falling out with Horner in Sakhir.

But the 51-year-old told Dutch newspaper De Telegraaf that he was not the source of the recent Horner leaks.

He said: “But why would I do that? Max has a contract with Red Bull until 2028, is performing great and feels at home here. I have no interest in that at all.”

Asked after the race about the e-mail leaks, Horner said he would not comment “on what motives whatever person may have for doing this”.

He added: “I have the support of an incredible family, of an incredible wife, of an incredible team and everybody within that team and my focus is on going racing and winning races and doing the best that I can.”

At the Bahrain International Circuit, Horner had walked into the paddock hand-in-hand with his wife and former Spice Girls singer Geri Halliwell. Their joint appearance amounted to a show of defiance in light of recent events.

When asked if he was confident of staying on as Red Bull team boss for the entire season, Horner, who has repeatedly denied the allegations against him, said: “Absolutely. I’ve always been entirely confident that I would be here.

“There was a full, lengthy internal process that was completed by an independent KC (King’s Counsel) and the grievance that was raised was dismissed. End of, move on.” 

International Automobile Federation (FIA) president Mohammed Ben Sulayem told the Financial Times that the turmoil is “damaging the sport on a human level”.

F1 chief executive officer Stefano Domenicali has yet to publicly comment on the issue.

Mercedes boss Toto Wolff was more candid, saying after the Bahrain GP: “I would very much hope that the governing body (FIA) and the commercial rights’ holder set the compass right.

“But the moment I continue to question how this has been handled, I am probably not doing any good to the whole issue, because then it could be seen as this just being about a power fight within F1. That’s why it should not be in the team’s (Red Bull’s) hands. It’s a much bigger topic than that and I don’t want to diminish the whole situation by making it seem like the Mercedes guy is talking about the Red Bull guys.” REUTERS