Schumacher calls for Horner's departure from Red Bull: this was Verstappen's reaction

17:15, 03 Jul

Updated: 08:25, 05 Jul

Co-author:Tobia Elia

byLudo van Denderen

In just eighteen months, Red Bull Racing has gone from being the clear dominant force on the F1 grid to a team struggling more and more to keep pace with the leaders. At the center of the criticism is team principal Christian Horner, who has faced growing scrutiny.

This week, Ralf Schumacher suggested that Red Bull would do well to part ways with Horner. When asked by a journalist if Red Bull’s management style suits him, Verstappen responded—without mentioning Horner by name.

Verstappen questioned about Horner

"It's always easy to say, when things are going well: Ah, that's the management style that works. I mean, if you ask me the question, or if you ask people in 2023 the question, what's the best way? Then you say: 'Oh, well, it's going fine. So probably everything is working well."

"You know, it's always easy to throw it on that. But yeah, I don't think that's something I should say negatively here", Verstappen concluded his answer.

Verstappen didn't expect McLaren's rise

Looking at the differences between Red Bull and McLaren, Verstappen also believes that the British team has simply been doing better lately: "Sometimes it takes a while to get everything in order. I think now it was exactly the opposite for us. We had everything very well from the beginning of the new regulations and towards the end it was a bit of a struggle for us."

"That's something we need to figure out. Why we didn't make the same progress as some other teams? But on the other hand, 2026 is completely different."