Following confirmation on Wednesday morning that Adrian Newey is no longer part of the Red Bull F1 Team and will leave the whole organisation next year following the conclusion of his work on the RB17 hypercar, Jos Verstappen has spoken up again on his concerns about the future of the Milton Keynes-based squad and the direction it is going in.
The first signs of tension came last October when reports emerged for the first time of a power struggle between Christian Horner and Helmut Marko.
That resurfaced in March as the Austrian said Saudi Arabia was likely to be his last race with the team as he was set to be suspended. Max Verstappen had to intervene and Marko stayed.
Behind the scenes, however, things have continued to be turbulent. The Austrian side of the Red Bull ownership wanted to fire Christian Horner following allegations of inappropriate behaviour towards a female employee. The Thai side, who are the majority owners, backed Horner.
A big bombshell was to come as Adrian Newey told Red Bull he wanted to leave last week. It was officially announced today.
Back in March, Jos Verstappen, father of three-time World Champion Max, spoke to the Daily Mail about Horner and the problems he believes he was causing.
The former F1 driver is very much in the camp of wanting to see Horner out of the team.
“There is tension here while he remains in position.
“The team is in danger of being torn apart. It can’t go on the way it is. It will explode.
“He is playing the victim, when he is the one causing the problems.”
Speaking to Dutch publication De Telegraaf following the press release that confirmed Newey’s departure, Jos Verstappen reiterated his concerns on what is going on inside his son’s team at present.
“The team is in danger of falling apart. I was afraid of that earlier this year.
“For internal peace, it is important that key people stay on board. That is not the case now.
“Newey is leaving and earlier this year it also looked like Helmut would be sent away. For the future, that is not good.”
