Max Verstappen says his father Jos is “not a liar” and that they “will always be a team”, but Red Bull’s three-time world champion stopped short of agreeing that team principal Christian Horner should quit before the situation “exploded”.
Verstappen Snr sensationally called on Horner to resign last weekend following allegations of controlling behaviour levelled at the Red Bull team principal by a female colleague.
Horner was cleared of wrongdoing by an internal investigation, but the controversy has rumbled on following the leaking of screengrabs purporting to be between Horner and his accuser.
Jos said after the season opener in Bahrain that it could “not go on the way it is”, adding the team would “explode” such was the tension and that Horner was “playing the victim, when he is the one causing the problems”.
Speaking in Saudi Arabia ahead of this week’s race, Max Verstappen said he had spent the last few days with his father in Dubai, and his impression was he did not regret his remarks one bit.
“I have not asked him that but my dad, from how I know him in go-karting, is very outspoken, and he is not a liar, that is for sure,” Verstappen said. “I was with him until yesterday. I mean, we speak all the time. We’re a team. It’s me, my dad and Raymond [Vermeulen, Verstappen’s manager] all together. And that will always be like that. I don’t see myself in F1 without them by my side.
Asked whether he took his father’s side in the squabble, Verstappen added: “I think from my side, it doesn’t matter being on one side or the other side. Of course, as the 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 and have less talk about what is happening outside of the track.”
Verstappen did at least see a future where his father and Horner can return to a working relationship where they can share the pit lane together without calling for each other’s heads.
“Everyone in general, even if you have arguments or not, there are things that can be worked out,” he said. “Everyone is man enough and respectful enough anyway. I have not always agreed with everything that has happened – and I am not talking about lately – just in general in F1 and that is where sometimes it is good to have discussions. You might agree to disagree, that is what happens in a relationship.”
With speculation that one of Verstappen Snr or Horner will have to leave the team, and with Horner having received strong backing from Thai majority owner Chalerm Yoodivhya, there has been speculation linking Verstappen with a move to Mercedes to replace Lewis Hamilton.
Leave a Reply