Max Verstappen’s Only Option Is Christian Horner and Co; Other Teams Not Enough for Winning Ways According to F1 Bigwig

It’s truly amazing how a team that is utterly dominating Formula 1 can also be so unstable from the inside. Of course, the team in question is Red Bull Racing, which has been under the spotlight ever since team principal, Christian Horner became the subject of an internal investigation following the accusations of ‘inappropriate behavior’ against a female employee. And while it seemed like the 23-day investigation, which eventually cleared Horner of any wrongdoing, would bring the saga to an end, it ended up escalating the situation to an extent where Max Verstappen has possibly been pushed to the brink of leaving the team.

Soon after Horner was declared innocent, alleged private documents, which remain unverified, from the investigation were leaked to the wider F1 community. Following this, Max’s father, Jos Verstappen publically demanded the removal of the Horner from the team, stating that his presence was a threat to the team. What followed was another internal investigation into Helmut Marko, the motorsport advisor for Red Bull (regarding the leaked documents), who is closely associated with the Verstappen family. The situation reached a point where Marko himself hinted at the possibility of his suspension or departure from the team.

And that’s where Max Verstappen, who had, till that point, refrained from speaking about the internal struggle within the team, drew the line and openly backed Helmut Marko. He stated that Marko needs to stay in the team or his own situation within the team could get difficult. This was an indication that Max is aligned with the Austrian side of the supposed internal power struggle within the team, while Horner reportedly is backed by the Thai owners of Red Bull.

In a recent discussion about the 2025 grid on the Missed Apex Formula 1 Podcast, Verstappen’s future within Red Bull was a major point of discussion. The host laid the groundwork by saying, “What Verstappen has done is he has got on the wrong side now of one of the most powerful senior managers in F1 history. Christian Horner is an incredibly powerful man, who in my opinion is going to win this little internal war at Red Bull because the 51% shareholder is on their side. So unless the Verstappens have done some serious back crawling, Horner holding all the cards now.“

Bradley Philpot responded to this by saying, “I don’t think Max has any credible alternative team that he would care about going to. He’s made it absolutely clear anytime I’ve ever heard him speak that he only cares about winning and he would lose interest very very quickly in a team where he didn’t have a shot at winning.”

Max Verstappen knows that he is an important link within the team at the moment and he has recently made his stance clear.

Max Verstappen intends to see through his current Red Bull deal till 2028

Since the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix weekend, where he openly supported Helmut Marko, Verstappen has been speculated to join Mercedes amid the rising tension within Red Bull. However, the reigning world champion has no interest in leaving the team according to his recent statements made during the Australian Grand Prix.

Verstappen’s decision to stay put seems to be rooted in his satisfaction with the team and its key personnel. He told the media, “At the end of the day, it’s a performance business. It’s the same as if I wouldn’t perform, I wouldn’t be sitting here, so I know how that works. But for sure with the deal in place that’s also my intention to be here to the end, because it would be a great story for me personally just see it out to the end.“

He also made it clear that he prefers to stay out of the internal politics of the team, saying, “From my side, I also don’t want to be too involved with these kinds of things.” Verstappen’s priority is on performance, and he trusts the team to handle any internal issues appropriately.

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READ MORE: Max Verstappen’s Chief Mechanic Quits Amid Christian Horner’s Rumored Red Bull Seizure Attempt