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Horner denies Verstappen rumours again: Is he right or not?
- Ludo van Denderen
In the end, Max Verstappen stood with the most important trophy in his hands as the 2024 season concluded. As if nothing had happened, you are tempted to say. But it was different in theory due to a season that was full of internal rumblings and hassles, along with an RB20 that was losing more ground on the competition by the week. There were even stories that Verstappen was fed up with everything and was looking out for another team. Team boss Christian Horner again denies the latter. But is he right?
Speaking to the Goodwood Festival website this week, Horner said, "Every team is going to show interest in him because he is the exceptional talent that we all know, so you can only imagine he would be at the top of every team's list. There was a lot of noise. And usually, when the noise is so public, it tends to be more... The serious stuff is usually done behind the scenes, not through the media."
To some extent, Horner is of course right; contract negotiations are not done through the media. However, at one point last season, the situation at Red Bull was so explosive that the parties involved deliberately leaked information in an attempt to damage the other camp.
Verstappen's departure was an option
The moment it came out that Red Bull (read: Horner) was intent on pushing Helmut Marko aside, it was really Max Verstappen who put his foot down. His message was clear: 'Helmut stays, or I go too'. Later, Verstappen himself said in the media that he played a role in his mentor staying on.
Those weeks prompted Mercedes to contact the Verstappen camp to see if a move to the German team was possible. Although Horner seems to imply otherwise, serious talks did take place at the time. Ultimately, the Verstappen camp came to the conclusion that making that move was not a smart one at the time.
But what wasn't there then can absolutely be different at any time. Horner probably won't say it out loud, but the situation with Verstappen remains fluid. The first few weeks of the season will determine to what extent Verstappen has a future at Red Bull and whether new stories will surface in the media. Indeed, they certainly don't tell the whole story. But in Formula 1, not everything stays behind closed doors.
This article was written in collaboration with Olly Darcy
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