Christian Horner said he would not stand in the way of Max Verstappen leaving Red Bull if he chooses to do so, but he remains confident the reigning champion will stay at the team beyond the end of this year.
Despite winning the opening two rounds of the season, divisions and controversy within Red Bull have led to suggestions that Verstappen, who has a contract with Red Bull until 2028, could leave the team at the end of the year.
A rift appeared within Red Bull last week after the team’s parent company, Red Bull GmbH, cleared Horner of allegations of inappropriate behaviour brought by a female colleague.
Verstappen’s father, Jos, called for Horner to stand down following a two-month investigation, saying the team would “explode” if he remained in his position.
When asked whether his relationship with Verstappen was under strain, Horner said: “It is absolutely fine with Max.
“He’s working well within the team. There’s no tension, there’s no stress. You can see how relaxed he is around the garage with everybody in the team and that’s translating to his performance on track as well. So we don’t see any issues with Max.
“Obviously, I’m aware of all that noise, but it hasn’t distracted the team from the job, and we are one team now obviously.”
But Horner added that, hypothetically, he would not stand in Verstappen’s way if the 26-year-old decided to leave the team before the end of his contract.
“It’s like anything in life, you can’t force somebody to be somewhere just because of a piece of paper,” Horner said. “If somebody didn’t want to be at this team, then you know, we’re not going to force somebody against their will to be here.
“That applies whether it’s a machine operator or a designer or somebody in one of the support functions, that runs through the business.
“Being involved in a team like this involves commitment and passion. And Max has that, we’ve seen that.
“He’s been here since he was 18 years of age. And I have no doubt of his commitment and passion going forward. But you know, that’s pretty much the way it is. No individual is bigger than the team.
“We have a phenomenal car. We’ve got one seat open for next year. I probably got 16 drivers that are desperate to be in that car for next year.”
He added:…
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