Max Verstappen backed to follow Christian Horner out of Red Bull

Johnny Herbert has backed Max Verstappen to follow Christian Horner out of Red Bull by completing a bombshell move to Mercedes.

Horner's departure from Red Bull was announced on Wednesday, having been its team principal for over 20 years. 

Herbert believes Horner's difficult 18 months since being cleared of inappropriate behaviour by a female employee caught up with him, leading to his exit.

Despite Horner and Red Bull parting ways, Herbert remains confident that Verstappen will complete a move to Mercedes, which has been increasingly speculated in recent weeks. 

"Well, I think it's not a surprise, I don't think anybody should be surprised," Herbert told RacingNews365 during an interview. 

"It was something that when it first kicked off, I remember the Ford motor company weren't exactly very happy with the rumours that were going about at that present time. He's hung on for a good period of time, but I think it was something that was never going to go away. 

"And when it doesn't go away, it's never a good thing to have that sort of thing hanging around your neck. But there's also, is it anything to do with Max? Because, obviously, Jos was very vocal, and not wanting Christian about. Potentially, I suppose it could be that.  

"It sounds very much so, that the Mercedes thing is where he's probably going to end up. So, it's probably not a surprise everything with Christian anyway."

Red Bull in a 'precarious position'

With the exit of Horner, Red Bull has lost six senior figures in the space of just over two years, putting the outfit in a difficult position. 

Herbert is expecting a rocky patch for Red Bull whilst it completes somewhat of a rebuild under Mekies' leadership, particularly with Verstappen and his father unlikely to be happy with the current performance of the RB21.

"Now, it's going to be a really difficult period for them [Red Bull], because obviously, with all the changes, with Jonathan [Wheatley] and Adrian [Newey] and a few other people, and of course, with Christian as well," added Herbert.

"It's in a very precarious position at the moment, because, like anything in Formula 1, you've got to be able to have the right ingredients, which includes personnel, direction, and that's all been slowly, sort of eroded away.

"And then you've got the performances on the track at the end of the day, and a probably not so happy Max, definitely not a happy Jos, but it's probably not a happy Max. 

"Because Max, as you know, wants to be in a situation of winning races and a world championship, and that sort of, again, slowly, sort of eroded away over the last, what, year and a half, I guess."