Jos Verstappen calls Martin Brundle ‘one of those silly people’ over his Red Bull remarks
There’s been another contract drama involving Max Verstappen and talks with McLaren. Max’s dad and agent, Jos Verstappen, has pushed back against rumors that Max and his team want to “wreck” Red Bull.
Red Bull has had a rocky couple of years, with disagreements between Max’s crew—especially his dad Jos—and team bosses like Christian Horner. After Horner stepped down and Laurent Mekies took over, Max cooled down his talks about moving to Mercedes, which has been a hot topic given how fast their car has been lately.
But now, with rumors about leaving Red Bull and possibly joining McLaren, well-known Formula 1 expert Martin Brundle said that Max’s team “really wanted to torpedo Red Bull’s management.” Since Horner left, several key people at Red Bull, including Helmut Marko and Adrian Newey, have also gone. Even chief engineer Paul Monaghan might be leaving.
On the Sky Sports F1 podcast, Brundle criticized Max and his team for causing these departures. He said, “Team Verstappen really wanted to shake up Red Bull’s management and did a good job, starting with Christian Horner.” He added this pattern continued with others leaving too.
But Jos Verstappen wasn’t happy with Brundle’s comments and called him an “idiot” on Instagram. Jos recently spoke about Max’s future too, especially after Max’s number two mechanic, Ole Schack, left after 22 years with Red Bull. He said, “After winning four championships, they’ve done a lot together. But it’s Max’s choice. I think he’ll keep going.”
It seems like Verstappen’s time at Red Bull might be coming to an end, though finding a new team won’t be easy. With Lewis Hamilton signed on at Ferrari and Mercedes happy with their drivers Kimi Antonelli and George Russell, the only real option might be McLaren—possibly involving a swap with Oscar Piastri.
Unless a team in the middle of the pack makes big improvements later this year, Verstappen will likely have to work closely with Red Bull’s engineers to get the best car or consider a move to McLaren. (After all, the Dutch do love their orange!)