Verstappen put himself on the line for "second father" Marko

"There is tension as long as he is here. It can't go on like this, it will explode at some point. Horner plays the victim, while he is the cause of the problems." That was what Jos said at the time. Max did not take a side in that, but of course, the situation was far from ideal for him too.

When did Verstappen hear that something was going on around with Horner on a personal level? "That was before we went to Bahrain. It's never nice for the team. Not for anyone and certainly not for himself. Ultimately, you have to continue as a team. We have to focus on performance. Ultimately, that's what you're paid for. Everyone in the team. Ultimately, you try to focus on that."

The Dutchman continued in the interview, Max Verstappen, Simply Lovely at Viaplay: "There was a lot going on in the background. I also get to see more than most people. Of course, you don't have to say everything in the media or talk about it. It's much more important that we get along well behind the scenes."

Horner stays despite allegations

In the end, Horner was acquitted of the allegations of inappropriate behaviour."He stayed, and in the end, I think we built a very strong bond with the whole team - and Christian. You can quickly say that you wash your hands of it and don't get involved. But in the end, you also owe a lot to each other in the team and you have to go through that storm with everyone."

Verstappen himself wasn't too worried about it, it wasn't difficult for him to keep performing on the track. There was no real switch in his mindset. "Ultimately it's not nice, there are worse things in life. For me, it wasn't difficult to keep the focus on racing. It didn't matter that much."

Hassle surrounding Marko's Red Bull future

During that period of unrest, rumours were also circulating that Helmut Marko should leave Red Bull Racing. The team advisor seemed to fall victim to a power struggle and was even banned from speaking. In the end, everything ended with a hisser, partly because Verstappen stood squarely behind the 81-year-old Austrian. 'If Marko has to leave, I'll leave too,' the Dutchman said at the time.

"I have always made that very clear, even last year. Everyone knows that. He made it possible for me to start in Formula 1. Even in the team. He is always very important to me, almost a kind of second father. We have experienced a lot over the years, many good things and also bad things. That also makes you loyal to someone." How concrete has an exit from Marko ever become?"I don't think we even got to that point, because I indicated how I felt about it," Verstappen said.

Meanwhile, everything is back to normal internally between everyone at Red Bull. "There was a lot of mud-slinging left and right. Ultimately, what matters is that you solve it together. And not in the media. And that worked out. My father and Christian too. You have to talk about it with each other and that's what they did."

This article was written in collaboration with Olly Darcy

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