MAX VERSTAPPEN'S DAD JOS RENEWS CHRISTIAN HORNER FEUD WITH AUSTRIAN GP ACCUSATION
Jos Verstappen has renewed his bitter feud with Christian Horner and accused the Red Bull boss of blocking his participation in a track event.
The Dutchman, father of the team's star driver Max Verstappen, is present at the Austrian Grand Prix this weekend. More than that, he was lined up to take part in a parade of past F1 cars at the Red Bull Ring.
But Verstappen Snr has now pulled out of that event. And, speaking to Dutch newspaper De Telegraaf, he claimed to have knowledge that team principal Horner had personally sought to stop him from taking part.
The 52-year-old said: "In the past few days I've heard from several sides that Christian Horner did everything he could to not let me drive, and otherwise to make sure that nothing would be filmed. Then I think,' Say it to my face'. It doesn't have to be this way for me, I find it very disappointing."
When approached by Mirror Sport, a Red Bull Racing spokesperson denied Verstappen's claim that Horner had done everything in his power to stop him from participating in the event.
It is the latest swipe taken in a months-long feud between the two parties. While his son Max has been publicly neutral on the issue, Verstappen Snr has been one of Horner's biggest critics and, at the start of the season, called for the Briton to be removed from his position.
Amid the accusation of inappropriate behaviour from a colleague against Horner, which the team boss denied and was cleared of after an internal investigation, the former F1 racer asserted that Red Bull were at risk of being "torn apart" if he continued as team principal.
Despite problems behind the scenes, Red Bull began the season in their usual dominant form. But the performance gap has since closed with the likes of Ferrari and McLaren putting pressure on the defending champions, which just last month led to Verstappen Snr again suggesting the team would benefit from a change of leadership.
He said: "The era when Red Bull had the dominant car really seems to be over now. Maybe they should start focusing a bit more on racing and mutual communication again, rather than on other things... There will definitely be races where Red Bull will be in good shape again, but I am very curious to see how they are going to solve this.
"Something really needs to happen there. Red Bull needs to find out where this problem is coming from, because it is clear that teams like Ferrari and McLaren are getting closer. Max has still been able to mask that somewhat, but the big difference with Sergio Perez is becoming more and more obvious."
2024-06-28T09:52:52Z dg43tfdfdgfd