Thursday’s media day before the Formula 1 Grand Prix of Saudi Arabia was dominated by speculation about the future of Max Verstappen in Red Bull. With the main advisor Helmut Marko expressing his concern that the four -time pilot champion could leave the team, and reports that arise from Aston making a shocking offer for his services, the driver used the FIA press conference to pour cold water over rumors.
On Friday he gave the director of the Red Bull Christian Horner team the opportunity to do the same.
Speech Sky Sports F1 Red Bull chief described rumors as “noise”, and insisted that Verstappen would return with the team next year.
“The noise is exactly the right word to descend it. There has been a lot of noise outside the team,” said Horner.
“Max reaffirmed his commitment yesterday. We are focused on making the car faster, that is where our is an approach is part of that, he is a committed member of the team. The rest is all speculation.”
When asked directly if Verstappen would be with Red Bull in 2026, Horner did not hesitate.
“Yes, absolutely,” came the answer.
The recently round of speculations occurred after a difficult week for the team in the Bahrein Grand Prix, which saw its first two -point result, but Verstappen let fight for the sixth place against Pierre Gasly in the last return of the race. While the Red Bull pilot was able to win that battle, there was tension in the Paddock after the race and reports of a “crisis summit” among the officials of the high -ranking team.
Horner brushed those reports on one side too.
“It was not a crisis summit. If you sit with your engineers and discuss the race, I would not describe it as a crisis summit,” said Horner.
“We have many meetings. You feel and discuss these things logically. There are always engineering solutions for engineering problems.
“We are where we have because we have some problems with the car in which we are working and the whole team is working hard. We know what the problems are, it is presenting a series of updates about the next careers to address some of those deficiencies.”
Horner’s comments Sky Sports F1 He arrived after the first practice session in Jeddah, who saw Verstappen end up in P9 and his teammate Yuki Tsunoda just behind him in P10. The director of the Red Bull team pointed out that the team is trying some things in the Grandbia of Saudi Arabia and that they are trying to be a “small radical” with their approach.
“We are trying some different things this weekend, so that session was about trying to be a bit radical with part of the configuration,” Horner added.
“We have a lot to look and direct cars differently in the first practice.”
The second practice session in Saudi Arabia begins momentarily, but it remains to be seen if speculation about Verstappen’s future ends.