Why Horner knew Wolff bid for Verstappen was just 'noise'

Red Bull team principal Christian Horner has claimed he knew Mercedes rival Toto Wolff's push for Max Verstappen last season was nothing more than "noise".

The announcement on February 1 that Lewis Hamilton would be leaving Mercedes for Ferrari at the end of the year not only sent shockwaves through the sport but also set the driver merry-go-round into motion far earlier than is ordinarily the case.

It left Wolff on the hunt for a new driver to partner George Russell for this season, and the Austrian made no secret of his desire - on more than one occasion - that Verstappen was in his crosshairs.

Wolff's quest was seemingly aided by the unrest behind the scenes at Red Bull, sparked by the investigation into Horner following a complaint made against the Briton by a female employee inside the team.

Adrian Newey ended up announcing his departure, with the renowned designer ultimately opting to join Aston Martin. It was also announced that sporting director Jonathan Wheatley would be departing the team to become the new team principal at Sauber.

With Verstappen's father Jos also making considerable waves in the background, the question of whether Max would remain was one of the hot topics of speculation, and Wolff fed into that with his overtures.

Ultimately, and as was expected, Mercedes opted to promote one of its talents, Kimi Antonelli.

As to the reality of Wolff's pursuit, speaking to media, including RacingNews365, Horner said: "At no point did I have any concerns that he wanted to leave.

"Of course, every team is going to show interest in him because he is the exceptional talent that we all know, so you can only imagine he would be at the top of every team's list.

"There was a lot of noise around that. And usually, when the noise is so public, it tends to be more...the serious stuff is usually done behind the scenes, not through the media."

Verstappen commitment to Red Bull 'absolute'

There were occasions, though, when Verstappen refused to shut down the gossip, cleverly phrasing responses to the questions posed.

Eventually, the four-time F1 champion made himself clear that he would be remaining with Red Bull, and seeing out a contract that runs through to the end of 2028.

As to whether Horner is convinced of that, he said: "He's recently made that statement, that he loves working within the team, and he has every intention of doing so.

"Now it's the emphasis on us to provide him with a quick car so that he can continue to achieve the kind of results that he's had.

"But his commitment has been absolute, and continues to be."