Horner reveals Verstappen's annoyance at Mercedes rumors in F1

Red Bull team principal Christian Horner has revealed that the recent speculation linking Max Verstappen with Mercedes has “annoyed” the world champion during the Austrian Grand Prix weekend. Toto Wolff, Mercedes boss, interest in Verstappen was confirmed on Friday, although on Saturday it was emphasized that the probability of the Red Bull driver leaving is “very low”. Wolff also made it clear that any possibility of Verstappen joining would be “long-term”, as the Red Bull driver has a contract until 2028. The news emerged in the Red Bull Ring paddock after Mercedes driver George Russell indicated that talks about renewing his own contract were being delayed due to his team’s interest in Verstappen.

It’s a lot of noise. I think Max is quite bothered by it. We are very clear about the contract we have with Max until 2028. Anything that is said is totally speculative. We don’t usually pay too much attention to it.
Christian Horner, Red Bull team principal

Christian Horner ha dicho que Max Verstappen ha sido molestado por la especulación que lo vincula con Mercedes.

Horner downplayed speculation after qualifying in Austria on Saturday, in which Verstappen could only achieve the seventh-best time. Verstappen, who is currently in third place in the drivers’ standings and is 43 points behind the championship leader, Oscar Piastri, said that his car was not up to the task of challenging Lando Norris for pole position on Saturday. The Red Bull driver, who qualified seventh for Sunday’s Austrian Grand Prix after being forced to abort his fastest lap in the final sector when yellow flags were shown following a spin by Pierre Gasly, said:

It would have been close, potentially, until the yellow flag, but still miles away from the pole. In the end, it’s not that painful.
Max Verstappen

Verstappen also commented on the problems with the car during qualifying.

The third free practice wasn’t too bad, but somehow in qualifying it just completely disappeared. There wasn’t a single corner where I felt happy in the car and that is, of course, a big problem in qualifying.
Max Verstappen

The pilot concluded by saying:

It depends on how you look at it… I don’t really look at the classification, I just try to do my best on the race weekend. I hope that tomorrow we can at least be competitive with Ferrari or Mercedes, but I don’t know, because with the balance I had in qualifying, that won’t look very good tomorrow. We will analyze everything.
Max Verstappen