for Jos Verstappen, the Red Bull team “will explode” if Horner stays in office

2024-03-03 10:31:01

By Le Figaro with AFP

Published 17 minutes ago, Updated now

Jos Verstappen, the father of three-time reigning Formula 1 world champion Max Verstappen. Hamad I Mohammed / REUTERS

Jos Verstappen, the father of three-time reigning Formula 1 world champion Max Verstappen, has claimed the Red Bull team will ‘explode’ if team boss Christian Horner, recently cleared of charges of ‘inappropriate behaviour’ with regard to an employee, retained her position.

“There is tension (on the team) as long as it stays in place”declared Saturday in Sakhirthe former Dutch F1 driverin the sports supplement of the British daily Daily Maila few hours after his son’s triumph at the Bahrain Grand Prix, kicking off the season. “The team risks tearing itself apart. She can’t continue like this. It’s going to explode.”estimated Jos Verstappen. “He plays the victim, when he is the one who caused the problems”he added about the historic boss of the Red Bull team.

On Wednesday, the Austrian firm announced that its internal investigation had led it to clear the Briton Christian Horner of the charges against him. While several teams denounced a lack of transparency during the internal investigation, the person concerned assured Thursday that the unit in his team “has never been stronger”.

But the sending, shortly afterwards, of an anonymous email, containing in particular WhatsApp messages allegedly written by Horner, to journalists following F1, to motorsport officials or even to competing teams, relaunched the affair. The affair was revealed at the beginning of February when a first article appeared in the Dutch newspaper De Telegraaf.

Asked by the Daily Mail about the origin of the information leaked to the media, Jos Verstappen denied any involvement in this matter. “That does not make sense. Why would I do that when Max is doing so well here?”, he assured. Christian Horner, married to ex-Spice Girl Geri Halliwell, present at his side on Saturday during the Bahrain Grand Prix, has always denied the facts with which he was accused and said he was convinced after the GP that his position was not not threatened by the fallout from the investigation.

“A complete and lengthy internal procedure was conducted (by a lawyer external to Red Bull, editor’s note), and the grievance raised was rejected. End of the story”he also told the press in Bahrain.

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