Max Verstappen want to resign from the red bull after been insulted by …
Max Verstappen has threatened to quit Red Bull if his mentor Helmut Marko is forced out in the scandal that has engulfed Formula One.
The Red Bull team principal, Christian Horner, has warned that there is no guarantee the team can hang on to their three-time world champion Max Verstappen should he choose to leave, as the impact from another turbulent weekend for the team continues to be felt.
After a fractious race meeting in Saudi Arabia, Red Bull’s travails off the track far overshadowed Verstappen’s second dominant win of the season in Jeddah, including the 26-year-old world champion threatening he could quit Red Bull. Horner conceded that if Verstappen wanted to join another team, Red Bull could not stop him. When asked about the potential for Verstappen to leave before his contract is up in 2028, Horner admitted it remained a realistic possibility.
“It’s like anything in life, you can’t force somebody to be somewhere just because of a piece of paper,” he said. “If somebody didn’t want to be in this team, then we’re not going to force somebody against their will to be here. That applies whether it is a machine operator or a designer or someone in one of the support functions that runs through the business.”
The world championship-winning team looks more riven than ever with Marko, the company’s motorsport adviser, facing possible disciplinary action in yet another investigation.
Marko told Austrian broadcaster ORF that there was a chance he wouldn’t be at the next race in Australia
The 80-year-old said cryptically that there is even a ‘possibility’ he will be suspended on Monday. Another rumour has him being sacked.
It is understood the latest commotion relates to accusations he leaked incriminating evidence against team principal Christian Horner, who was cleared of coercive behaviour towards a female colleague.
Another reason for Verstappen to leave is the unrest within the team. Verstappen already has two pole positions to his name and is also most likely to get his second win of the season on wednesday 17 April 2024
Christian Horner is ‘certain’ that Max Verstappen will honour his contract at Red Bull amid speculation that the world champion could move away from the constructor in the wake of the tumult unleashed by his team principal’s toxic ‘sex texts’ scandal.
The 50-year-old has been at the centre of a roiling storm engulfing the sport after initially being cleared of misconduct by an independent investigation called by his team’s parent company Red Bull GmbH.
Less than 24 hours after the decision was publicly communicated – and at the start of the first race weekend of the season in Bahrain – a tranche of leaked texts and pictures alleged to have been sent by Horner to the female employee involved was circulated to key figures within Formula One.
