Max Verstappen launched a thinly-veiled dig at Red Bull team principal Christian Horner, claiming the latest row with his father, Jos, could have been avoided.
Jos Verstappen had been set to drive the Red Bull machine which carried Sebastian Vettel to the world championship in 2012 ahead of the team’s home race in Austria on Sunday.
But Jos Verstappen, 52, withdrew from the legends’ parade after he claimed that Horner did not want him to take part.
![Red Bull team principal Christian Horner](http://image.assets.pressassociation.io/v2/image/production/a12df0694e284939a8e7a27721c7045fY29udGVudHNlYXJjaGFwaSwxNzE5NzQ2ODUw/2.76221448.jpg?w=640)
Horner denied he vetoed Jos Verstappen’s participation, although it is understood the team principal, 50, questioned internally why he was representing Red Bull.
Jos Verstappen is making only his second appearance in the paddock since he said at the season-opening round in Bahrain that Red Bull would “explode” if Horner remained in his post.
Max Verstappen held off Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris to win Saturday’s 23-lap sprint race in Spielberg, and was asked if the public spat between his father and boss was affecting him.
“It is not nice, not for myself, not for my dad, not for Christian, and not for the team,” said Verstappen, 26.
“You don’t want these things to happen. My dad has been quite clear about the reasons behind it and I can understand his opinion.
![Max Verstappen, left, with his father Jos Verstappen](http://image.assets.pressassociation.io/v2/image/production/c1bdc0d03ae182c2feca087eded0a484Y29udGVudHNlYXJjaGFwaSwxNzE5NzQ2ODg4/2.75485682.jpg?w=640)
“He gets asked to drive the car and finds out he is not wanted. My dad doesn’t care about driving it, but he got asked if he could do it for the Dutch fans at Red Bull’s home track.
“So, I understand it, but I am here to focus on the performance. I want a good relationship with everyone. But this scenario could have been avoided.”
Max Verstappen is under contract at Red Bull until 2028, and, although Mercedes have made him their number one target to replace Ferrari-bound Lewis Hamilton, he insisted that he has no immediate plans to turn his back on the world champions.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here