Max Verstappen insists he is happy at Red Bull and intends to see out his contract that expires in 2028.
It has been a turbulent few weeks for Red Bull and world champion Verstappen, who has found himself caught in the middle of the fall-out from an investigation into Christian Horner’s conduct.
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Red Bull team principal Horner was accused of inappropriate behaviour by a female colleague but later cleared by an independent investigation.
The matter has overshadowed the first two weeks of the 2024 season, which has seen Verstappen win in both Bahrain and Saudi Arabia, and called into question his future with the team.
The Dutchman is now in Australia preparing for round three in Melbourne this weekend and says he is committed to Red Bull for the next four years.
He said: “That’s why I, of course, signed the deal in the first place.
“And that’s what I said before also. I’m happy within the team and of course it’s very important that we try and keep the key players in the team for a longer period of time, as of course that’s where the performance is as well.
“At the end of the day, it’s a performance business. It’s the same as if I wouldn’t perform, I wouldn’t be sitting here, so I know how that works.
“But for sure with the deal in place that’s also my intention to be here to the end, because it would be a great story for me personally just see it out to the end, because it basically means I’ve been part of one family and one team.”
Verstappen’s father Jos, himself a former Formula One driver, went public in his desire to see Horner depart the team while Max has remained neutral but hinted that stance could change if close ally Helmut Marko, the team’s motorsport advisor, was pushed out.
The 26-year-old has repeatedly tried to focus on the racing and he maintained that stance on Thursday, adding: “From my side, I also don’t want to be too involved with these kinds of things.
“At the end of the day, I’m the driver and I’m here to look at the performance side of things, that’s what I’m hired for.
“But from what I know everything has been handled in the right way. I’m not going into any further details from that side because I don’t know more than that, and I also don’t want to know as it’s not my job or my task within the team.”
