Jos Verstappen, father of Red Bull’s lead driver Max, made a public call for Christian Horner and Red Bull to part ways, in controversial comments made after the Bahrain Grand Prix, just days after Horner had an internal investigation into him by Red Bull GmbH dismissed.
Christian Horner ‘won’t air discussions’ with Jos Verstappen
Verstappen, who claimed Red Bull will ‘explode’ with Horner remaining at the helm, made his comments just days after the conclusion of Red Bull GmbH’s investigation into allegations about Horner’s behaviour as team boss.
The employee who brought their grievances to the F1 team’s parent company has been suspended by Red Bull Racing, while Horner became the unwilling subject of a malicious sideshow when an email leak of alleged information from the investigation was sent to hundreds of F1 personnel and media.
Horner and Verstappen senior were seen in the paddock engaged in animated discussion before a handshake between the two parties – with both the discussion and handshake witnessed by PlanetF1.com – only for Verstappen’s comments to be published in the British media hours later.
Having made the public call for Horner to fall on his sword at Red Bull, Verstappen senior is not in attendance in Saudi Arabia due to his pre-planned participation in a rally, and remains a welcome guest of the Red Bull Racing team.
Speaking to the media ahead of the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix, Horner was quizzed for his thoughts on Verstappen’s comments and tried to brush the Dutchman’s assertions aside.
“I’m obviously aware of the comments that were made,” he said.
“There was a discussion subsequent to the race, everyone’s focus is very much on the future, the team’s focus is very much on defending both of these world titles, Max’s three successive world titles, the 55 victories of Max, the 114 victories we’ve achieved, and now sit tied with Williams on GP victories, our focus is very much on the future, discussions took place following the race in Bahrain and we’re all looking forward.”
Having attempted to divert attention away from the matter, Horner was asked to clarify whether the air has been cleared between himself and Verstappen senior.
“I think I’m not going to air all the discussions that are private between the parties but discussions have been inevitably had,” he said.
“The team is focused on the challenges that are ahead of us, and the team is very focused on the season ahead and, whilst we’ve had a very dominant race in Bahrain, we don’t expect that in future races.
“We’re acutely aware of our competitors, and you don’t achieve what we’ve had by not being a united team – you need to be working in total harmony to achieve those kinds of races.”
