Max Verstappen’s Mercedes Move Seemingly Shut After Christian Horner’s Meeting With His Manager “Went Well”

Not just his personal life, Christian Horner‘s alleged ‘inappropriate behavior’ was shaping up to have a massive impact on the future of Red Bull Racing as well. The controversy surrounding the boss has made many lose faith in him with rising calls for the longest-serving TP in F1 to disassociate from RBR. Rumors suggested Max Verstappen‘s camp wanted to exit the Milton Keynes-based outfit and end his contract early if Horner was to keep his position. He was linked heavily with Mercedes, with the Silver Arrows on the lookout for a replacement for their outgoing world champion. However, Horner has made a personal attempt to put all such rumors and scenarios to bed.

The boss has been putting out fires left right and center thanks to the prolonged controversy which even overshadowed the perfect weekend by Red Bull. In fact, it was overshadowed by none other than Verstappen’s father who made an alarming statement targeting Horner. The statement and Jos Verstappen meeting Toto Wolff only fanned the fire of Max’s move to Mercedes. However, Horner made an effort to put the ball back in his court.

As reported by The Guardian, Horner sat with Verstappen’s representatives face-to-face in Dubai on Monday. The idea behind the meeting was to clear the air surrounding the controversy and get a vote of confidence on his starman’s future. Horner met with manager Raymond Vermeulen acting on the world champion’s behalf, with other Red Bull figures also present. A source also revealed the talks “went well”.

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Perhaps a necessary action from Horner to get some of the trust he lost during this investigation? Well, if it wasn’t for his personal gain, he was surely thinking about the team’s future as Red Bull cannot afford to lose their star man to their biggest rival, which became a serious concern in the Red Bull camp.

However, if it’s down to one man, Horner can rest easy because he has the vote of confidence from Max Verstappen himself.

Max Verstappen puts faith in Christian Horner amid controversy

A son’s opinion can be different from his father and that’s exactly what Max Verstappen showcased when he was asked to comment on Horner ahead of the Bahrain GP. The Dutchman has shared a long history with the British boss and has practically grown up in front of him. In recent years, they’ve made their bond stronger by sharing the incredible success and a tenacious season like 2021. So when asked to comment on Horner’s controversy, Max Verstappen only had kind words for his boss.

He said, “Listen, when I look at how Christian operates within the team, he has been an incredible team boss. So absolutely, from the performance side of things, you can’t even question that. So that’s what I’m also dealing with. I speak to Christian a lot. And also, of course, throughout the weekend here, he’s fully committed to the team. He’s also here for the performance, of course. probably a little bit distracted. But like I said before, we just focus on the performance side of things. And that’s how we all work together.”

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Only time will tell if it was a statement for the media or if he truly believes it. Meanwhile, Horner isn’t taking any chances and making efforts to gain everyone’s trust.