Christian Horner, the CEO of Red Bull, is receiving further calls to step down in the wake of explosive text message leaks.

The world champion son Max’s manager, Jos Verstappen, stated that the current controversy was “driving the team apart” and that

tension will always exist as long as Mr. Horner held his job.

The 51-year-old Verstappen Sr. went on to accuse Mr. Horner of “playing the victim” while causing issues and threatened to “explode”

if he refused to step down.

Despite being accused of having “read him the riot act,” Mr. Horner’s team placed first and second at the Bahrain Grand Prix on

Saturday. He was seen embracing his wife, former Spice Girl Geri Halliwell, who displayed a united front.

After the 50-year-old was exonerated following an inquiry into purportedly inappropriate behavior by Red Bull GmbH, the parent

company of the Formula One team, further leaked texts surfaced a day later.

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Max Verstappen sets a chilly tone for the season in the F1 Bahrain Grand Prix.

After Red Bull’s dominant victory in the Bahrain Grand Prix led by Max Verstappen, many in Formula 1 felt as George Russell, a

Mercedes driver, did.

“Max is the favourite,” remarked fifth-place finisher Russell, who came in behind Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz and Charles Leclerc and a one-

two from Red Bull. “I don’t think anyone is going to be fighting him for the championship this year, but I hope some people are going

to be battling for victories here or there.”

For those who were expecting for a more competitive season than the previous one, Verstappen’s commanding victory, which was

much anticipated and did little to deflect attention from the accusations made against his team principal Christian Horner over the

course of the weekend, set a dangerous precedent.

Verstappen, who just had the most dominant season in Formula One history, outran everyone in the race by an average of 0.8 seconds

per lap, including teammate Sergio Perez. Even though he was on softer tires, his quickest lap was about 1.5 seconds quicker than the

next best.

Toto Wolff, the principal of the Mercedes team, stated that Max is not in a separate league, but rather a different galaxy. “The

performance is extraordinary.”

However, there were a few grounds for hope, at least. It is not realistic to anticipate that he will be challenged for the title; rather, one

should hope that he will occasionally face challenges in races.

For starters, Verstappen barely edged out Leclerc for pole position; if the Ferrari driver had reproduced his second-session lap in the

top 10 shoot-off, Verstappen would have started second on the grid.

Furthermore, last year’s difference was significantly greater, even prior to Leclerc’s retirement due to an engine malfunction, which

gave third place to Fernando Alonso’s Aston Martin. This year, Verstappen’s teammate Sergio Perez was barely four seconds ahead of

the man in third position.

Then there was the state of the other teams: at the beginning of this season, Ferrari, Mercedes, and McLaren are all considerably

better off with their vehicles than they were the previous one.

Verstappen’s perspective, which several other teams also held, was

“I don’t think that will happen every single grand prix in the near future, but everything just worked really, really well,” Verstappen

stated. “In general, other teams are closer.”

“Here we were particularly good on the deg, but I do expect in race pace everyone is closer in Jeddah (for the Saudi Arabian Grand

Prix next weekend).”

Although Wolff acknowledged that the field was nearer the second Red Bull than it was the previous year, he remained pessimistic.

“That is maybe the silver lining I can see,” he continued, “but it is very thin and far away and I almost can’t see that far.”

However, some people—even those on his own team—saw greater cause for optimism.

Lewis Hamilton faced a challenging race following a

Even while they didn’t think it would have been enough to compete with the Ferraris for the podium, they were nonetheless inspired

by the fact that, in contrast to 2023, their car is at least enjoyable to drive this year even though it is underpowered.

Hamilton declared, “Red Bull are going to win everything for a while.” However, I believe that during the previous two years, we have

experienced a great deal of challenges, which we have spent countless races trying to resolve.

Unlike now, we have a platform that we can begin expanding. We work well as a team and are now in the building phase.”

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