Christian Horner says 'no one is bigger than the team' at Red Bull following comments made by Helmut Marko and Max Verstappen in recent days suggesting their futures may be in doubt. said.
Marko later confirmed he would remain at Red Bull after suggesting he may be at risk of suspension, but this followed Verstappen's decision to leave if the company's motorsport adviser left. “It's not good for my situation,” he said. The team would think so, given their “tremendous” loyalty to him.
Christian Horner claims 'no one is bigger than the team' at Red Bull
At the track in Jeddah on Saturday, Verstappen held off Sergio Perez for a 1-2 finish as Verstappen once again took maximum points and continued his and the team's perfect start to the 2024 season at Red Bull. It was smooth sailing for me.
However, questions continue to befall Horner about how the team is currently being run, given the off-track rumors surrounding the team have yet to go away.
when asked Sky Sports F1 Speaking of the current battle for leadership within Red Bull, Horner had this to say: You know, obviously a lot of things are made of this material.
“But we are a team, and no one is bigger than our team. This team is made up of more than 1,400 people across different organizations, and everyone has a role to play. From the bottom to the top, we would not be able to achieve this performance without their performance.
“Unfortunately, there's obviously a lot of speculation going on this weekend, but again, our focus remains on track.”
Asked about comments over the weekend that Marko may be at risk of suspension from the company, and Verstappen's subsequent insistence that Marko's departure was not good for his future at Red Bull, Horner said: took on a defiant attitude again.
“First of all, Helmut is a consultant for Red Bull.” [Red Bull Racing’s parent company] So whatever the discussion is, it's between them and not with the team,” he explained.
“Max is an important member of our team and a great driver, but everyone has a role to play in this team.
“We are a team and no individual is bigger than the team and that is the only way to achieve results like this.
“Well, today was Max's 100th podium finish, all of them with Red Bull Racing cars. This was his 56th victory.
“We are still in our 20th year with 114 wins ahead of Williams and are an incredibly strong team with the depth to achieve such results.”
Jos Verstappen has been a vocal critic of Horner, despite Red Bull's internal investigation into him being dismissed, and recently reinforced his belief that remaining as team principal would “cause problems” It has been loudly criticized and is making headlines. .
When presented with Verstappen Snr's opinion and asked if he had the support of his son, Horner admitted he was aware of the content of the interview.
“You know, it's clearly rolling,” he replied.
“I know what has been said, but Max is an important part of this team.
“He's our driver and he's doing a great job. As team principal and CEO, I'm responsible for the management and operation of this team.
“So everyone has to do their part, Max is doing his part. Everyone else is doing their part.
“I think this assumption is obviously correct, but the most important thing is the team and focusing on the performance on the track, and we all have a vested interest in achieving the kind of performance we had today. It was an incredible team effort.”
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“And what you don't see, you only see the front end, it's all the people behind the scenes, all the people in the supply chain, all the people in the support department, and the tremendous length of time. All the people who work the hours.
“This is one of the biggest team sports, if not the biggest team sport in the world, and to achieve that, there are nine other teams trying to do what we're doing. I think it's important to realize that it's not that easy.
“You have to have the spirit, the culture and the determination across the company to make that happen. And of course the drivers are driving the end product and they did a great job today. But… We are moving forward and keeping our focus on Melbourne.”
And in conclusion, to make it clear that there is a decent work culture within Red Bull Racing at the moment, Horner replied:
“As you know, Red Bull Racing is one of the most supported sports organizations in the world.
“We have a great team and a great group of men and women who are doing a great job and we couldn’t have achieved this performance without them.”
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