Max Verstappen has said Red Bull must “be patient” in waiting for an outcome from the investigation into Team Principal Christian Horner’s alleged misconduct.
Horner is currently the subject of an investigation from Red Bull’s parent company following accusations of alleged inappropriate behaviour against a colleague.
The Red Bull boss, who attended a hearing with an external barrister earlier this month, has denied the allegations and claimed the F1 outfit remains “united” as he continues in his role as Team Principal, having been present at both the RB20 car launch and pre-season testing.
Verstappen was asked to give his opinion on the nature of the investigation process during Wednesday’s driver press conference.
“I do not want to get into that,” he said.
“Because it’s not my case anyway and I don’t want to be involved for that.
“You know, as a team, yeah, we do trust that process and we just have to be patient because there’s no need to start saying things, start screaming things out loud. You have to be patient. I think I’ve learned that over the years anyway.”
Horner previously admitted the investigation was “a distraction” for the team, but Verstappen denied it has had an affect on his track performance and reiterated team unity moving forward.
“I’m very focused on just the performance of the car myself and yeah, hopefully [the investigation] will just be resolved very soon,” he said.
“It’s a whole team effort that everyone you know has to stick together and you know, work towards more success. And that’s why it’s important, of course, you know, to get everything, let’s say, resolved very soon.”
Horner has been in place as Red Bull Team Principal ever since the outfit joined the Formula 1 grid in 2005.
The Red Bull team boss is in attendance in Bahrain once again for this week’s GP amid a looming outcome to the investigation and Verstappen was asked as to what the impact would be had Horner remained absent from team activities.
“Let’s say if your team boss disappears for whatever reason, for one or two races, not much is going to happen because everyone is in their role,” Verstappen said.
“They know what they have to do on the short term, but it’s all about people management, you know, over time, and then of course, things will start to be different, if you know, one of the leaders starts to not be there anymore.
“But we’re not thinking like that. Like I said before we just trust the process that we are in as a team of course to see what the outcome will be and besides that at the moment everyone is just very focused on the performance here at the track and everyone is yeah in a good mood and just excited to get going again.”
Lewis Hamilton, who was also present in Wednesday’s press conference was asked what the investigation and the allegations associated with it means for F1 as a sport amid the series’ values for inclusion, fairness and diversity.
“I think it’s a difficult one to answer naturally,” Hamilton began.
“I think we always have to do more to try to make the sport and the environment that people get to work in feel safe and inclusive and any allegations has to be taken very seriously.
“Obviously we don’t know everything that’s gone on. But it does need to be resolved as it’s hanging over the sport.
“And it will be really interesting to see how it’s dealt with moving forwards and the effect that it may or may not have on the sport moving forwards.
“I think it’s a really important moment for the sport to make sure that we stand true to our values.”
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