Jos Verstappen slams Christian Horner again as he supports his Red Bull accuser
Jos Verstappen has thrown his support behind the suspended Red Bull employee who accused Christian Horner of “inappropriate behaviour”.
Red Bull team principal Horner was cleared of the allegations after an internal investigation, which has since seen the unnamed female employee suspended on full pay. The saga has continued to rumble on, with the alleged messages and photos sent from Horner leaked, leaving Max Verstappen ’s father unhappy.
The 52-year-old has been a critical voice of Horner and previously warned Red Bull that they risk being "torn apart" if he remains in his position. And speaking to MailOnline at the Hannut Rally in Belgium, Verstappen Snr. said: “I sympathise with the woman, with all that she went through, but we will see what happens.”
Max Verstappen is Red Bull’s star driver and is currently bidding to win his fourth Formula 1 World Championship in succession. He kicked off the season with victory in Bahrain and he will start the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix on pole position on Saturday after a dominant performance in qualifying on Friday.
But his father, who himself was an F1 driver, is concerned that the Horner story is proving a distraction for Red Bull. “All these things that are going on are having an influence on Max,” he said. “He was third in the first practice, and all we hear about is Horner and what happened with his situation.
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“In the press conference Horner gave the other day it was all about him and his problems when we should be talking about Max, the car, his performance and the race. I've already said I think it is causing problems if he stays.”
He added: “I think it's too late for Christian to say 'leave me alone' but he has the support of the Thai owner so I think he will stay for the rest of the season. I said it would [be] bad if he stayed – it really isn't good for the team, this whole situation.”
Christian Horner remains under pressure despite being cleared of wrongdoing (Getty Images)Speaking ahead of the Saudi Grand Prix, Horner has insisted it is "time to draw a line" under things. He said: "Obviously there has been a lot of coverage surrounding this, but one has to go back to the basis of a grievance was raised, it was fully investigated, and it was dismissed. From there we move onwards.
"I think an awful lot has been made out of this. Obviously it has been of great interest in different elements of the media for different reasons. I think the time now is to look forward and draw a line under it.
"We are here to go racing, we are here as a Formula 1 team, and the time now is to focus on what is going on on track and the performance of the cars and the drivers, where the spotlight should be during the course of a Grand Prix weekend."
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