Max Verstappen has insisted that he has no doubts over Christian Horner's leadership strengths amid the ongoing situation surrounding the Team Principal.
Ahead of the season-opening Bahrain Grand Prix weekend, Horner was cleared following an investigation that sprouted from allegations made by a Red Bull employee.
However, on Thursday, an email from an anonymous source sent files that allegedly contain WhatsApp conversations between Horner and the complainant to F1 CEO Stefano Domenicali, FIA President Mohammed Ben Sulayem, the nine rival Team Principals and members of F1 media.
Horner met with Ben Sulayem and Domenicali on Friday and could face a disrepute charge from the FIA.
The situation has overshadowed the first race weekend of the season, where Red Bull secured pole position on Friday through Verstappen.
Speaking to media including RacingNews365, Verstappen asserted: “From my side and I think what I can see from the mechanics and engineers, we are fully focused on the car and the performance during the weekend.
“That’s how it should be and that’s what we continue to do. It’s not our business, we’re not particularly involved in that.
“We’re paid to do our job, that’s what we’re doing and that’s what we love doing. That’s what we focus on.”
Viewed by others:
Verstappen backs 'incredible team boss' Horner
Horner responded to the alleged leak on Friday and issued a statement, reiterating his denial of any allegations made against him.
When asked if he still has full faith in Horner's leadership, Verstappen responded: “When I look at how Christian operates within the team, he has been an incredible team boss.
“From the performance side of things, you can’t even question that. That’s what I’m also dealing with.
“I speak to Christian a lot, also throughout the weekend here, he’s fully committed to the team.
“He’s also here for the performance. Of course, he’s probably a little distracted.
“But we just focus on the performance side of things and that’s how we work together.”
We're giving away no less than 10 scale models and 10 caps among our YouTube subscribers! Enter now for a chance to win one of these prizes by subscribing to our YouTube channel and commenting under the video using the button below.
Subscribe, comment & winMost read
In this article
Join the conversation!