Max Verstappen's father opens up on why he attacked Red Bull boss Christian Horner early in the year
Max Verstappen's father Jos Verstappen opened up on why he attacked Red Bull boss Christian Horner early in the season, mentioning that his criticism was borne primarily out of his concern for the team and Max Verstappen. The start of the season was a tumultuous time for the Austrian team. On one side, there was the investigation that Horner was subjected to, and on the other, there was a steady outflow of key personnel from the team.
While Max Verstappen was winning the races on track, Jos Verstappen had a few choice words to say about Christian Horner in the media. As the season progressed and Red Bull's struggles continued to increase, the criticism ramped up even more.
In the second half of the season, however, it looked like there was some truce between the two, as they were seen sitting together during the F1 Brazilian GP.
As Max Verstappen sealed the title, Jos Verstappen was questioned if he regretted his early season comments about Horner. In response, Jos said his comments were primarily based on what he saw within the team (as quoted by PlanetF1):
"No, not at all. What the team boss does or does not do, that does influence everything that is going on around the team, and therefore around Max. Of course I get involved in that. I see it all happening and I do think I am in a position to say something about it. If I am put on the spot, I will give my opinion. I will never harm Max. I look at the overall picture. At the end of the day, I stand by everything I said.”
However, Jos further expressed belief in the team returning to a sense of stability gradually.
“I do have that feeling. Top advisor Helmut Marko also seems to have more say again, which I think is a good thing. The team is now growing a bit more together again.”
While the start of the season was dominant on track for Red Bull, there was too much turbulence off-track. From the outside, it seemed that the senior management was divided into two parts with Christian Horner and Thai ownership on one side and Helmut Marko and Jos Verstappen on the other with the Austrian side of the ownership.
Christian Horner backs Max Verstappen after the "Stupid Idiots" remark backlash
Red Bull team principal was questioned by the media about the "Stupid Idiots" remark that Max Verstappen had made about the stewards during the F1 Abu Dhabi GP. The remark was made soon after he was told that he got a 10-second penalty for his collision with Oscar Piastri.
Horner defended his driver by saying that drivers shouldn't be judged on how what they say while driving an F1 car. He told the media including Sportskeeda,
"I'm sure in any sport that there will always be frustration from players or sports people in the heat of the moment. When you're delivered a message about a penalty like that, in other sports if footballers had microphones on, I'm sure there'd be a few choice words as well."
Max Verstappen is now a 4-time world champion and has clinched his title by putting together a ruthless campaign at the front of the grid since 2021. It would be interesting to see what the driver can accomplish in 2025 when the competition on the grid gets tighter.