Red Bull’s team principal, Christian Horner, has dismissed rumours about Max Verstappen’s departure from the Red Bull team.
With recent speculation that Mercedes driver George Russell may take on a potential Red Bull seat in 2026 after an amazing start to the season.
Max Verstappen’s future at the team and possible departure has been a swirling rumour over the past weeks.
However Christian Horner is confident about Max Verstappen’s future. Speaking in a media session after the Saudi Arabian GP, he dismissed rumours of the Dutchman’s departure:
“There’s been a lot of noise, but the noise has been out there, not necessarily in here.”
“Max is working very hard with the team, he’s stated once again that his focus is here. He’s working incredibly hard on this, you know, together collectively with the rest of the team.”
Verstappen and the RB21
This comes after a relatively poor start to the season for Verstappen, the current four-time world champion, who has only won a single race to date in 2025.
This is a stark contrast from last season, when he had already won four out of the five races. Verstappen claims that the RB21’s non dominant status is the cause.
In a previous interview with Autosport, the Dutchman said: “I think our main issue is that our car is not where we want it to be. Everyone knows that within the team as well and that’s what I focus on, to be honest.”
Team Mentality
Red Bull formally joined the sport back in 2005 and has since gone on to win 6 World Constructors’ Championships, along with 8 Drivers’ Championships.
Red Bull is also known as the team that will replace drivers as quickly as they secure them, which happened this season with Liam Lawson, who was switched with Yuki Tsunoda for the second Red Bull Seat.
With the likes of four-time World Champion Sebastian Vettel, Daniel Ricciardo, David Coulthard, Alex Albon and Pierre Gasly also having stints at the team.
But, Max Verstappen has remained a constant at Red Bull since he joined the team in 2015, which has led him to securing 4 World Driver Championships.
Horner further added:
“We’re a team, we win together, we lose together and that’s the way that we operate. Our focus is on sorting the car out which we’ve had a a decent Saturday and Sunday here and everything’s still in play.”
