02/03/2024
NEWS STORY
As saga takes another twist, Max Verstappen insists that he still has faith in team boss Christian Horner.
Though the investigation by the F1 team's parent company cleared Horner of "inappropriate behaviour", just 24 hours later a number of documents were 'leaked' to members of the paddock including F1 CEO, Stefano Domenicali, FIA president, Mohammed ben Sulayem, Liberty Media, team bosses and members of the media.
Although they have not been authenticated, the documents, which were soon spread on social media and suggest a worrying agenda, cast further doubt on Horner's position, though the Briton was quick to dismiss the contents.
With Toto Wolff and Zak Brown already having voiced concern at the way the investigation was handled in the first place, particularly the lack of transparency, the documents put Horner, Red Bull, indeed F1 back in the spotlight.
Asked, having taken pole for the Grand Prix, if he still has faith in Horner, who has run the team since Red Bull bought Jaguar from Ford in 2005, Max Verstappen 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," he continued, "throughout the weekend here, and 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."
Between the morning's practice session and qualifying Horner had meetings with both Domenicali and Ben Sulayem, the TV cameras showing the FIA president embracing the Briton.
"From my side, and I think what I can see also from the mechanics and the engineers, we are fully focused on the car and the performance here during the weekend. And that's how it should be, I think, and that's what we continue to do, because it's not our business, we're not particularly involved in that.
"And we are here, we are paid to do our job, and that's what we are doing and that's also what we love doing. So that's what we focus on."
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