Max Verstappen blasts “rumours” about Christian Horner

Max Verstappen has dismissed “rumours” about Christian Horner ahead of the F1 Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix.

Unsubstantiated reports from Austria claimed that Horner could lose the faith of Red Bull GmbH 49% shareholder Mark Mateschitz, although retain faith from the Thai majority shareholders.

However, our information is that Red Bull have been busily and excitedly preparing celebrations for their 400th grand prix this weekend with Horner at the helm. Any question marks about his future in the team are without substance.

Horner has led Red Bull since their first day on the F1 grid in 2005 and has overseen two golden periods, for Sebastian Vettel and Max Verstappen.

Max Verstappen: "Rumours don't mean anything"

Verstappen has batted away questions about Horner’s future at Imola.

“Honestly, I have no idea where they come from,” Verstappen told Sky Sports.

“I don’t follow it. So people ask me questions but I really don’t know who even puts it into the world.

“As a team we are not entirely happy with how we’re performing. We’re also working on being more competitive.

“If you ask everyone this question, nobody is satisfied with their performance. You always want to be better, to perform more.

“So, for me, these rumours don’t mean anything.”

Verstappen arrives at Imola 32 points behind championship leader Oscar Piastri.

Piastri has won three grands prix in a row to establish himself as the new title favourite, even ahead of McLaren teammate Lando Norris.

Verstappen and Red Bull know they must land a major blow on their rivals soon.

But they are also aware that, at the Spanish Grand Prix, a potentially game-changing FIA rule about flexi-wings will be introduced.

The impact of this can only be speculated upon, for now, but Red Bull cling onto hope that it could readdress the competitiveness of their RB21.