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SAKHIR, Bahrain — After Red Bull emerged from a dramatic 48 hours with pole position at F1’s season opener, Max Verstappen reiterated his faith in team boss Christian Horner’s “incredible” track record.
Much of the build-up to Saturday’s race has centered around Horner, who on Wednesday was cleared of an allegation of inappropriate behaviour in an investigation led by parent company Red Bull GmbH.
A mass leak of documents purportedly related to the same investigation stole headlines on Thursday and has further overshadowed Red Bull’s start to the season. The authenticity of the files, which came from a generic email account, has not been verified by ESPN.
Horner worked as normal on Friday and oversaw qualifying from the customary vantage point on the pit wall as Verstappen beat Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc to pole position by 0.2s.
Asked if he still had faith in Horner’s leadership, Verstappen said: “Listen, when I look at how Christian operates within the team, he has been an incredible team boss, so absolutely, from the performance side of things, you can’t even question that.
“So that’s what I’m also dealing with. I speak to Christian a lot, and also throughout the weekend here, he’s fully committed to the team, he’s also here for the performance. Of course probably a little bit distracted. But like I said before, we just focus on the performance side of things, and that’s how we all work together.”
Horner has been in charge of Red Bull Racing since its foundation in 2005 and has led the team to seven drivers’ and six constrctors’ championships.
Horner had meetings with F1 boss Stefano Domenicali and FIA boss Muhammed ben Sulayem ahead of qualifying.
Verstappen had been asked the same question about Horner’s leadership in a different way earlier in the press conference.
Once again, he had reiterated that the whole team is unified around the common goal of winning together.
“From my side, and I think what I can see also from the mechanics and the engineers, we are fully focused on the car and the performance here during the weekend. And that’s how it should be, I think, and that’s what we continue to do, because it’s not our business, we’re not particularly involved in that.
“And we are here, we are paid to do our job, and that’s what we are doing and that’s also what we love doing. So that’s what we focus on.”
Verstappen is heavy favourite to win a fourth straight championship in 2024.
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