Red Bull F1 respond to Jos Verstappen's bias comment; asserts 'team above drivers'

Red Bull F1 team would soon find itself colliding with Max Verstappen's father Jos Verstappen following their recent decision to not prioritise the defending F1 World Champion in this year’s title fight. A few days back, Jos Verstappen hit out at Red Bull for favouring Sergio Perez, which helped him win the Monaco Grand Prix 2022. Though Max Verstappen finished third in the race, his father, however, seemed unhappy over Perez being given the priority. 

Red Bull statement regarding team's priority

In a column for a daily, Jos Verstappen wrote that the Monaco GP result was a good one for the Red Bull F1 team but exerted 'little influence' in helping Max to the front. He wrote, “That he finished third, he owes to Ferrari's mistake at that second stop of Charles Leclerc.” The 50-year-old further mentioned that Max, being the championship leader, received blows due to the team's wrong strategy, while the race completely turned to the Mexican’s favour. 

However, Red Bull team principal Christian Horner has hit back at the claim, stating that the team was not ‘Max Verstappen Racing’. While speaking to Bloomberg, he said, “We are not talking about Sergio Perez Racing or Max Verstappen Racing here. It's about Red Bull Racing. The drivers work for the team and bear this responsibility. It is important that they realise that the ambitions of the team are greater than their own."

Before the Monaco Grand Prix, Sergio Perez had expressed his disappointment after he had to give up the race lead due to team orders during Barcelona GP. Despite being quicker, Perez let his younger teammate pass him, as Verstappen went on to win the race and snatch the drivers’ championship lead from Charles Leclerc.

Max Verstappen hints at quitting F1

Max Verstappen has raised questions over his F1 career by dropping a hint on his future beyond 2028. The 24-year-old is tied up with his current team until 2028 but is unsure about his next move post F1. Speaking to Dail Mail, the Dutch driver said"The plan is to stay here until 2028.I am not planning on changing teams. I am happy here and they are happy with me. But I have not made up my mind what I will do after 2028. I might stop". 

He further said, "I may want to do different stuff. By 31, I don’t know whether I will have peaked or where the drop-off in performance may have occurred. I want to do other types of races — endurance racing, for example. Maybe I will have had enough of travelling all the time. Maybe I will want an easier life and just to do the races I like. Whenever an opportunity comes to win a championship, you want to take it. If I am in a fight in 2028 it may be stupid to suddenly stop. It is difficult to know.’