Max Verstappen could leave Red Bull over Christian Horner scandal

Sports

By Ryan Dunleavy

Max Verstappen reportedly could use his wings to fly away from Red Bull Racing over the ongoing Christian Horner scandal.

The three-time World Champion driver Verstappen’s father, Jos, told friends that Max will leave the Formula 1-based team if Horner remains in power, according to The Telegraph.

Horner, Red Bull’s racing boss since its inception in 2005, recently was cleared in an in-house workplace misconduct investigation into “coercive behavior” — only to have hundreds of text messages and photos between him and a female employee leaked shortly thereafter.

Horner is married to former Spice Girl Geri Halliwell.

Leaders in and around Formula 1 reportedly received 79 screenshots of communication between Horner and the unidentified employee via an anonymous email last week.

Specific details of the contents are unknown even though Horner claims he “fully cooperated.”

Jos Verstappen recently called for Horner to step down. The two reportedly had a heated exchange last week.

“There is tension here while he (Horner) remains in position,” Jos previously told the Daily Mail after his son won the Bahrain Grand Prix. ‘The team is in danger of being torn apart. It can’t go on the way it is. It will explode. He is playing the victim, when he is the one causing the problems.”

Jos Verstappen denied allegations that he was involved in the email leak, citing his son’s success with Red Bull and no motivation to get in the way.

A double whammy would occur if Verstappen left Red Bull for racing rival Mercedes.

Jos Verstappen and Mercedes-AMG Petronas team CEO Toto Wolff were seen together multiple times at the season-opening race last week and stayed in the same hotel, according to The Telegraph.

If the conversations are a flirtation leading to a partnership, they are not hiding the courtship well — if at all.

Wolff downplayed — but did not dismiss — the possibility of adding Max Verstappen to his lineup after Sunday’s race.

“I think the driver will always choose the quickest car,” Wolff said. “That is fundamentally what it’s all about. At the moment, the Red Bull is the quickest car so that will always be in my opinion the priority.”