Rumors
'Back-up plan already in place: Piastri and Albon to Red Bull'
There seems to be a new rumour about Christian Horner's situation every day. There are two different sides within Red Bull ownership. The Thai side continues to support Horner despite everything, although this could well cost them dearly.
Following Red Bull's ruling that Red Bull Racing team boss Christian Horner was found not guilty of inappropriate behaviour, the situation seemed to have finally calmed down. Attention returned to this controversy due to Jos Verstappen's harsh statements. It is striking that the father of Red Bull Racing's star driver has spoken out harshly against his team. According to F1 Insider, this clarifies one thing: the Thai owner, who owns 51% of Red Bull, unconditionally supports Christian Horner. Even if this should mean the departure of Max Verstappen.
Newey is of greater importance at Red Bull than Verstappen
According to the medium, the Thai owners believe technical mastermind Adrian Newey is more important to the team than Verstappen, and that side of Red Bull is convinced Newey will stay with the team. The British engineer himself has also expressed his desire to stay with the team. A plan is reportedly already in place should Verstappen actually leave. Their eyes are said to be set on Oscar Piastri and Alexander Albon. Both drivers still have contracts with their current teams, but the Thai owner is confident that these contracts can be bought out with a lot of money. Both Piastri and Albon have good ties with the Austrian racing stable. Ex-Red Bull driver Mark Webber is the Australian's manager, and Albon is an ex-Red Bull driver himself.
Verstappen himself has no plans to leave his current team. He reaffirmed this during a media event in Jeddah. As long as his performance is good and the team can offer him a good car, it seems that the Dutchman will simply sit out his contract at Red Bull. However, he also stressed that you can never quite predict in advance how things will turn out.