Horner Hoping for Long-Term Verstappen Deal

Max Verstappen’s contract expires at the end of 2018. Many rumours link him with both Ferrari and Mercedes beyond 2018. However, Red Bull team principal Christian Horner suggests that he would be better off in the Austrian team. Horner feels that Max sees the strength and depth of the team and is comfortable with them.

Horner said “He’s the youngest grand prix winner, youngest double winner and youngest points scorer. Lewis is pretty set at Mercedes, Seb has signed for three years at Ferrari. The obvious thing is to build a team around you. But it’s down to us to provide him with a competitive car.”

Horner went defensive on the subject of Max Verstappen going head to head with Lewis or Sebastian. He said “That’s a question only he can really answer. We all want to be in a competitive position, and I think that the way we’ve developed this chassis this year, we’ve put a serious amount of performance on the car, and we’ve out-developed our opposition from our starting point to being grand prix winners on merit. We need to keep that trajectory going.”

The Englishman believes that Verstappen will gain from enduring a character-building 2017 season that has seen him retire seven times in 16 races. He reckons that, without the mechanical issues and the first-lap incidents, the Dutchman would have been third rather than sixth in the world championship.

The Red Bull team principal said “There were so many races this year when he was in a fantastic position to achieve big results. Credit to him that at such a young age he hasn’t let frustration boil over. He’s kept his head down and kept plugging away. As I always said, when it comes right for him, it’s going to come right in a big way. That’s exactly what happened in Malaysia. He drove a great race there, with no issues.”

With Verstappen only in his third year in grand prix racing, Horner feels his performances have been “phenomenal” for his level of experience. “It’s quite astounding that he’s only just turned 20. Just look at the following he has in F1 now. He’s one of the most, if not the most popular driver in F1. I think he’s growing in all areas. He has so little experience in car racing per se that every weekend he’s learning and getting stronger. There’s no shortcut to experience. Max is now close to completing his third grand prix season, and you look at the level he’s performing at, it’s phenomenal, and what’s exciting is what the future holds for him.”