Max Verstappen has opened up on the bitter feud between his father Jos Verstappen and Christian Horner that nearly tore apart Red Bull from the inside and drove the Dutchman to the brink of an exit.
Verstappen, 27, was left in an awkward situation after his dad, Jos, called for Horner to resign in the wake of allegations that were made against the F1 team principal in February.
Horner was accused of inappropriate behaviour towards a female employee at Red Bull. He was cleared in March following an internal investigation that lasted three weeks.
Former F1 racer Jos felt Horner’s position was no longer tenable and even reportedly met with Mercedes to discuss a stunning move for Max to their championship rivals.
However, Horner remained in the role he has held since 2005 and convinced his protégé to stay. Now, it appears his relationship with Jos is finally on the mend after years of tension.
Verstappen, who often refused to pick sides during the ugly episode, believes the two men now get along much better in the Red Bull garage after clearing the air.
“What has always been very important is that I had a good relationship with Christian and my dad,” Verstappen told BBC Sport. “My dad of course thinks about me and has the best interests for me – what I want to do and how I am in the team.
“He of course had his questions, but at the same time I was always very busy dealing with the performance of the car and trying to make that better.
“But at the end of the day, he could see that now everyone is normal, everyone is dealing with it and focusing on the performance side of things.
“People do not need to be best friends, they don’t need to go on holiday together. But I feel like you can have a normal working relationship, which I feel is the case absolutely, and especially lately it is going much better.”
Verstappen sounded a warning to the pair to avoid another public falling out by speaking directly with each other, rather than through the media, and the three-time world champion admitted he had to hold talks with both men to get the message across.
“I always said as well, when you have problems with each other, you’re not happy with something, you talk, you communicate, right?” he added. “You speak to each other and that’s always way better than throwing something in the media.
“And I have said that to both of them and that’s why it was not for me about picking a side. It was just [about] speaking a bit of common sense, I think, to both of them.”
Verstappen, who is under contract with the Milton Keynes team until 2028, is on the verge of collecting his fourth consecutive Drivers’ Championship.
With a 62-point gap, he will clinch the title if he wins the Las Vegas Grand Prix on Sunday, which would be a fine end to a difficult season for the Dutchman.
