Max Verstappen has insisted that the dismissal of Christian Horner as team principal would not be a factor in deciding whether he remains at Red Bull.
The world champion also revealed that the shock move after the British Grand Prix was led by the team’s parent company Red Bull GmbH, which had been embroiled in a power struggle with Horner for a year and a half.
The Dutchman was addressing the subject publicly for the first time since Horner was dismissed two weeks ago. Horner had been in charge of Red Bull since 2005 but had come increasingly under pressure after the death of Red Bull’s co-founder Dietrich Mateschitz in 2022. Horner had been embroiled in a scandal involving accusations of inappropriate behaviour made against him by an employee, though he was cleared by an investigation.
Speaking before the Belgian Grand Prix, Verstappen revealed he had been told half a day in advance of Horner’s exit. “The last one and a half years have not gone how we would have liked and management decided they wanted to steer the ship in a different direction,” he said.
“Management and, of course, the shareholders decided that they wanted a change. They run the team and I’m the driver so whatever they decide it’s fully in their right to do what they want.”
His father, Jos, was a key figure in wanting Horner gone but Verstappen, who has won all four of his titles with Horner in charge, maintained he was still on friendly terms with his former boss. “The relationship between myself and Christian, that doesn’t change,” he said. “Of course he’s not here now and we’re doing a race again but it’s still like a second family to me.”
Keeping Verstappen at Red Bull was likely to be one of the key reasons behind Horner’s dismissal, with the world champion known to have already been involved in talks with Mercedes. Red Bull have been underperforming for 18 months and Verstappen was deeply unhappy having already conceded he was out of the title fight this season. However, he denied it would influence any decision about his future.
“No, it doesn’t, really,” he said. “I don’t think it will matter at all for my decision in the future. The last one and a half years have not been where we want to be. Now we try and be more competitive.”
Horner was replaced by Laurent Mekies, the principal of their sister team, Racing Bulls, who will face the media for the first time on Friday.
Lewis Hamilton, who joined F1 just two years after Horner took over at Red Bull, paid tribute to what he had achieved.
“The team has been incredible, to see the progress,” he said. “I sat with Christian back in 2005. I remember sitting in his office, I was in Formula Three but looking to go into GP2 for its first year and I remember sitting with him.
“I won’t say we hit it off from the get-go but to have seen his progression and his career, it was clearly remarkable what he did with the team, with a huge group of amazing people. And to really run an organisation that big and that well takes talent and skill, and that’s what he brought to the team.”
