The world champion talks about dealing with internal conflict at Red Bull, learning from mistakes and focusing on performance
Max Verstappen takes a breath and gathers his thoughts. The energetic and unpredictable driver seems a little artificial. It’s as if he’s weighing the parameters of what he can and can’t say, knowing that his words will be scrutinized more than ever this season. “The more I talk about it, the more people have to write,” he says, almost apologetically. “When you write it down and make a story out of it, people notice little things and it becomes a huge storm, you know what I mean? “I’ll tell you a story that might be translated into Spanish, Dutch or elsewhere.
The more I say about it, the less I’ll improve the situation.” It dominated the sport for months, overshadowing Verstappen’s stunning mastery on the track.
In February it emerged that Horner had been accused of inappropriate behaviour by a female employee, a charge he has always denied. The allegations were dismissed by an independent investigation. She also complained to F1’s governing body, the FIA.
Sitting in the team’s camper, Verstappen seems as affable and relaxed as ever. The 26-year-old sees the hype that surrounds F1 – TV, media, meetings with sponsors – as a necessary evil to do what he loves: racing. Even this year, when the focus is inevitably on what’s going on inside the team, he is rarely trivial in carrying out these duties, but he admits he doesn’t like the excitement surrounding Horner. “I don’t want to know about these stories and what’s going on inside the team,” he says. “We just deal with it and put it off.” I’m contracted with the team to do my job, and that’s performance, and that’s what I’m focused on.
I’m not a politician, I’m not someone who likes to do politics. I just try to focus on performing with the people around me and distract myself from, say, the negativity. “
The story has undoubtedly shocked the team with which Verstappen has won the past three world titles. Horner wants to move on, but the cracks are hard to hide. Verstappen’s father José claims the issue is tearing the team apart and has publicly criticised him.
A series of unconfirmed messages were then released, allegedly between employees and Horner. It was rumoured that the escalation came from Jos, but he denies it.
There was yet another controversy surrounding Red Bull’s motorsport advisor Helmut Marko, one of the key men who brought Verstappen to the team. His future was called into question. This could have led to Verstappen’s resignation.
In response, Horner frankly declared that no one is more important than the team. To add insult to injury, Adrian Newey, Red Bull’s talented car designer who has helped the team to seven driver’s titles since joining in 2006, recently announced his retirement next year amid reports that he was uncomfortable with the allegations surrounding Horner.
It’s hardly appropriate to call this a riot. At the center of it all was Verstappen, one of the most talented drivers of his generation, in a car that was second to none. But no one was talking about him or his car. The Dutchman is modest and measured. He speaks glowingly of “performance”. Verstappen has stressed this at every opportunity since the beginning of the saga.
His conversations are peppered with the phrase, almost feeling like a long-winded refrain or a defensive measure. “It’s very important to focus on performance,” he repeats at various times when we speak. Verstappen was never fully supportive of Horner, especially as events unfolded early in the season. Tensions have reached new levels after his father openly criticised the team principal, seen as part of a power struggle between Horner and Red Bull GmbH, Red Bull’s parent company in Austria.
But Verstappen has made it clear that his father has always been more important to his career than Horner: earlier this season he spoke about the “pillars” of stability he needed to stay at a team, and how his dad was clearly one of them, given Horner’s relationship with José.
When asked about these pillars, he says, “Of course, my father is always with me,” but what about his father’s apparent issue with Horner? “They’re not at odds,” is Verstappen’s answer. “Different people may have different opinions, but that’s a different story.”
So where does Horner fit in among these pillars for Verstappen? He seems to be there, but it’s only his relationship with Verstappen since the Dutchman joined Red Bull in 2016 when he was promoted from sister team Toro Rosso.
The past tense was probably speaking before the world champion went back to the script. “There are many pillars. When I moved to Red Bull Racing, Christian was a pillar of this whole story,” he says. “But actually it’s always about getting everyone back on track and focusing on performance. I’ve said it many times before, but at the moment the focus is on the performance side and hopefully we can keep it up.” In Monaco, focus and performance on the demanding street circuit will undoubtedly be at the top of his list.
After five wins from seven races this season, but losing out to McLaren’s Lando Norris in Miami and being pressed hard by the British driver on the final lap at Imola, he will be hoping to assert his authority in the title fight again this weekend in Monte Carlo. It’s an important route for Verstappen. In 2018, he over-accelerated and crashed during final practice, missing out on qualification and almost certainly losing the team’s best chance of victory that season. This led to harsh criticism from Horner and was seen as a turning point for the young rider, who then adapted his style and has since won here twice.
But looking back, when asked if he would give any advice to a young Max, he had no regrets and didn’t blame himself at all. “Nothing, I wouldn’t tell him to change,” he said, reverting to his usual confident determination. “It’s good to make mistakes, but it’s good to learn, to challenge yourself, to experience difficult moments and overcome them. It’s very boring to know what’s going to happen tomorrow or the day after if everything goes easily. Not knowing, not feeling it, learning by yourself is very exciting and it will last until the last day of your career.” This seems to be part of Verstappen’s actual motivation.
He still sees racing as a labour of love, with good and bad times, and he feels comfortable on the subject, showing his usual lively enthusiasm. “I never thought of F1 as a job,” he says. “It all started as a hobby and then the passion became a profession. It’s not really a job, of course driving is something I really love. It’s really nice to push your limits in a fast car. Rather, it’s the things around it that make it seem like work and not as much fun.”
He doesn’t go into these details, but dealing with the events of that year couldn’t have been less part of the passion that ignited Verstappen’s love of the sport. Inevitably, that excitement also led to rumors about his future at Red Bull. Despite his contract running until the end of 2028, Mercedes and other teams are actively courting him. At the moment, he claims he wants to finish his time at Red Bull, where he feels a clear connection. Whether this also applies to the head coach remains to be seen. “It means a lot to me because I’m a pretty loyal person,” he says. “That’s what I demand from the team, it’s always been great so far and I want to keep it for a long time.” It would be great to finish my career here at Red Bull. To basically stay with one team all these years is incredible.”
