Horner dismisses Max Verstappen contract ‘noise’ amid fresh Mercedes rumours

Christian Horner remains confident Red Bull will be able to hang on to Max Verstappen despite a disastrous weekend in Austria.

At its home race, Red Bull came away with zero points after one of its drivers was crashed into on the opening lap, and the other finished last of the cars to cross the line.

Christian Horner confident in keeping Max Verstappen at Red Bull

The result, which puts the team 255 points behind Constructors’ Championship leader McLaren, comes at a time of increased speculation surrounding the future of Max Verstappen.

In the build-up, George Russell tactically revealed that Toto Wolff remains confident in being able to bring the Dutchman to Brackley for 2026, despite Verstappen having a Red Bull deal until 2028.

With rumours of performance clauses that could facilitate an early Verstappen exit, Horner has put forward his team’s case, saying that Mercedes has its own issues.

“I think they’ve got their own problems,” the Red Bull Racing CEO and team principal told media, including PlanetF1.com, in the immediate aftermath of the Austrian race. “They were 62 seconds behind the race leader today. So Mercedes have got their own issues.

“We’re just focused on ourselves. We know what the situation is with Max. We know what the contracts are with Max, and the rest is all noise that’s not coming from here.”

Whilst not commenting on the specifics of Verstappen’s contractual clauses, Horner said the Red Bull team is still one of the best on the grid despite the tough season so far.

“I still believe that we have strength and depth in this team that, unfortunately, we haven’t seen the performance come that we would like,” Horner argued.

“We’re at the end of a set of regulations. I think we are compromised by some of the tools that we have. But it’s the same fundamental group of people that 18 months ago, had designed a car that won every single grand prix [in a season] bar one. They didn’t suddenly just become idiots overnight.

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“You have to acknowledge the great job that McLaren are doing, and congratulations to them. But you know, it’s for us, it’s not about working harder, because everybody’s working incredibly hard, it’s just working smarter. Let’s see over the next few races.

“I think this season, the buffer that they [McLaren] have is significant so it looks very much like a two-horse race.

“For us, we just focus on every single grand prix and try and grab every opportunity, like we did in Montreal.

“A couple of weeks ago, we were second, ahead of the McLarens. As I say, the Mercedes today, last week’s race winner, was 62 seconds behind the race winner being caught by the Sauber.

“So it shows how it shifts around.”

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