Jos Verstappen, the former Formula One driver and the father of defending world champion Max Verstappen, says that he wants Oracle Red Bull Racing Team Principal and CEO Christian Horner removed from the team or the organization faces implosion, that’s according to an interview that the Dutchman did with DailyMail Sport in the United Kingdom following his son Max’s victory in the season-opening Bahrain Grand Prix earlier today.
The team is in danger of being torn apart, Verstappen told MailSport on Sunday evening in Bahrain, his comments come despite a public show of unity between Christian Horner and his wife, former Spice Girl Geri Haliwell.
Verstappen’s comments come even though Christian Horner was cleared of any wrongdoing by Red Bull GmbH following a lengthy internal investigation into alleged inappropriate and coercive behavior by Christian Horner directed to a female employee of Oracle Red Bull Racing. Following the dismissal of the case against Horner, an anonymous email was sent to members of the Formula One media, the FIA, Formula One and teams, however the email which included a Google drive with texts from Horner to the unamed individual within the team.
The drive which Paddock Eye has seen has not been verified as been authentic while Christian Horner has continuously denied the accusations made against him.
It has been reported that earlier in the weekend, Christian Horner and Jos Verstappen were involved in a heated verbal altercation before shaking hands with each other. The media report that led to the internal investigation came from a Dutch media outlet leading some to believe that the leak came from with Red Bull Racing possibly from Verstappen Snr.
Speaking to Sky Sports F1HD following Saturday’s race, Horner said that yes, absolutely he will be in Saudi Arabia next weekend for round 2 of the Formula One world championship and said that a team like Red Bull does not achieve the level of success that they had in Bahrain with the 1-2 finish for Verstappen and Perez without being united.