Verstappen brokered truce between Horner and father Jos

Max Verstappen has revealed how he helped to broker a truce between Red Bull boss Christian Horner and father Jos Verstappen.

A war of words broke out between Horner and Verstappen Senior at the start of the season, with the former engulfed in allegations of improper behaviour which he has always fully denied. 

The falling out then rumbled into the European leg of the campaign with a bizarre incident at the Austrian GP where Verstappen claimed he was banned from driving Red Bull's RB8 in a high-speed track test demo at Horner's behest - something Horner rubbished.

Caught in the middle was Verstappen himself who won seven of the first 10 races to build up a commanding championship lead that has taken him to the cusp of a fourth crown.

Reflecting on the situation, the Dutchman detailed how he did not pick sides and spoke "common sense" to both parties.

"People do not need to be best friends, they don’t need to go on holiday together," Verstappen explained to BBC Sport.

"But I feel like you can have a normal working relationship, which I feel is the case absolutely, and especially lately, it is going much better.

"But I always said as well, when you have problems with each other, you’re not happy with something, you talk, you communicate, right? You speak to each other and that’s always way better than throwing something in the media.

"And I have said that to both of them and that’s why it was not for me about picking a side. It was just speaking a bit of common sense, I think, to both of them."

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The 62-time grand prix winner also revealed how he felt it was just a father's instinct from Jos that could have made the situation worse.

"What has always been very important is that I had a good relationship with Christian and my dad," he continued.

"My dad of course thinks about me and has the best interests for me - what I want to do and how I am in the team.

"He of course had his questions but at the same time, I was always very busy dealing with the performance of the car and trying to make that better. 

"But at the end of the day, he could see that now everyone is normal, everyone is dealing with it and focusing on the performance side of things."