 "Max Verstappen refutes Red Bull exit rumours; his latest statement will be music to Christian Horner’s ears")
Max Verstappen has refuted the rumours that he is going to leave Red Bull at the end of the 2025 Formula 1 season due to the poor performance of the car. Red Bull has struggled so far to match the power of McLaren and third-ranked Verstappen is eight points behind leader Lando Norris in the driver standings .
While the rumours indicating Verstappen's exit from Red Bull had been around for a while, they gathered more strength after the four-time world champion came sixth at the latest Bahrain Grand Prix.
The poor performance by Red Bull was exaggerated by the words of team advisor Helmut Marko, who expressed “great concern” about Verstappen’s future with the team.
Verstappen sends positive message to Red Bull team
Talking about his potential future, Verstappen played down the rumours, but reiterated that he was unhappy with the car.
“Honestly a lot of people are talking about it except me,” Verstappen said before this weekend’s Saudi Arabian Grand Prix. “I just want to focus on my car and work with the people in my team. That is all I am thinking about in F1 at the moment.
“I am happy [at Red Bull], I’m just not very happy with our car. But that goes for everyone, we all want to be better, there’s no secret about that. That’s what we’re trying to improve.”
Verstappen also refuted the claims that his manager, Raymond Vermeulen, had a confrontation with Marko at the Sakhir circuit.
“To my knowledge they were having a conversation about everything, which is allowed,” he said. “We were all left frustrated with things that went wrong in the race. That’s what my manager, Raymond, and Helmut spoke about and Christian came along as well so they had a conversation. We all care about the team. We care about the team, the people and results.”
Impact Shorts
More ShortsAll of this must have come as music to Red Bull boss Christian Horner’s ears.
Verstappen has a contract till 2028 with Red Bull but he has been heavily linked with Mercedes and Aston Martin.
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