‘This is what I warned about’: Verstappen reignites feud with Horner

Jos Verstappen has reopened his feud with Christian Horner by blaming the exodus of senior staff from Red Bull Racing on the team principal, saying: “This is what I warned about.” 

The father of Red Bull’s star driver Max Verstappen called for Horner to step down at the start of the Formula 1 season amid allegations of inappropriate behaviour by the Englishman. 

Horner maintained his innocence and was cleared by an internal investigation and a subsequent appeal, but in the meantime the team has lost several key personnel from the paddock.

Chief among them has been design guru Adrian Newey, but sporting director Jonathan Wheatley has also left and last week race strategy chief Will Courtenay followed suit.

The departures have coincided with a dramatic loss of form for the reigning champions, whose eight-race winless run has jeopardised Max Verstappen’s bid for a fourth straight title.

“This is what I warned about,” Jos Verstappen told Autosport. “The team then says: ‘Oh, it doesn’t matter, we have someone else.’ But it’s too many people now.

“Max gets questions about it every time and so on. So yeah, I think it’s just not good what’s happening at the moment.”

Red Bull last won a race in June at the Spanish Grand Prix, when Max Verstappen extended his lead in the drivers’ championship to 69 points.

That gap is now down to 52 points, while McLaren have overhauled Red Bull’s 60-point advantage in the constructors’ standings.

Two wins in the last four races, including last time out in Singapore, have seen Britain’s Lando Norris emerge as Max Verstappen’s closest challenger.

The F1 season resumes with the US Grand Prix in Texas on 18 October, the first of six remaining races that will decide the destination of both championships.