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.”

Aryna Sabalenka has described the death of her former partner Konstantin Koltsov as an “unthinkable tragedy”.

Koltsov died on Monday after reportedly jumping off a hotel balcony in Miami, where Sabalenka is playing this week on the WTA Tour.

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The world number two will still compete in Florida and is slated to play close friend Paula Badosa in the second round tomorrow.

Australian Open champion Sabalenka wrote on Instagram: “Konstantin’s death is an unthinkable tragedy, and while we were no longer together, my heart is broken.

“Please respect my privacy and his family’s privacy during this difficult time.”

Sabalenka and Koltsov got together in 2021 and had not revealed they had split up.

Koltsov, who represented Belarus at the 2002 and 2010 Winter Olympics and played for the Pittsburgh Penguins in the NHL, died at the age of 42.

Having retired from playing in 2016, he was assistant coach for Russia Kontinental Hockey League team Salavat Yulaev Ufa.

Mohammed Ben Sulayem, president of the Federation Internationale de l’Automobile (FIA), has been cleared after an investigation into allegations he interfered in two Formula One races last year.

Earlier this month, the FIA revealed it was investigating Ben Sulayem’s conduct after a whistleblower claimed he had interfered in races in Saudi Arabia and Las Vegas last season.

It was alleged Ben Sulayem intervened in Jeddah to request a penalty for Fernando Alonso was overturned, while he was also said to have told officials not to certify the Las Vegas street circuit for racing last November.

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The outcome of that probe was made public on Wednesday, with the FIA Ethics Committee saying it had found no evidence of wrongdoing during a “robust and wide-ranging independent review”.

“Concerns over potential interference were brought to the attention of the FIA Compliance Officer and subsequently passed to the FIA Ethics Committee,” an FIA statement read.

“After reviewing the results of the inquiries, the Ethics Committee were unanimous in their determination that there was no evidence to substantiate allegations of interference of any kind involving the FIA President Mohammed Ben Sulayem.

“That the president showed complete cooperation, transparency, and compliance throughout the process during this investigation was greatly appreciated.”

It’s RACE WEEK in the land down under 🇦🇺 🦘#F1 #AUSTRALIANGP PIC.TWITTER.COM/2ZXGLQAUFM

— Formula 1 (@F1) MARCH 18, 2024

Ben Sulayem was elected FIA president in 2021 and his tenure at the helm of F1’s governing body has been defined by a series of controversies.

In 2022, Ben Sulayem was criticised for blocking an agreement between F1 teams and the sport’s commercial rights holders on changes to sprint races, while he was also accused of historic misogynistic remarks.

Simona Halep has hit back at Caroline Wozniacki after the Dane suggested she should not have been awarded entry to the Miami Open following her doping ban, insisting she did not cheat.

Halep was beaten by Paula Badosa in the first round in Miami on Tuesday, having seen a four-year doping ban reduced to nine months following an appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport [CAS].

Despite CAS ruling that Halep unintentionally took banned substance Roxadustat due to a contaminated product, the decision to grant her a wildcard for the Miami Open was not universally welcomed.

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Asked about Halep’s presence at the tournament, Wozniacki said players returning from doping bans “should work their way from the bottom”.

“I have always wanted a clean sport, fair for everybody,” the 2018 Australian Open champion said.

“This is not directly at Simona, but if someone purposely cheats, if someone has tested positive for doping, I don’t think people should be awarded wildcards afterwards.”

Comeback Complete 👏@PAULABADOSA turns it around, rallying to defeat Halep in a fabulous R1 affair at the @MIAMIOPEN! PIC.TWITTER.COM/JVLWPXW3T7

— wta (@WTA) MARCH 19, 2024

Those comments were put to Halep in a press conference after her 1-6 6-4 6-3 defeat to Badosa, prompting an bemused response from the two-time grand slam winner.

“Why has she said that? I didn’t do anything wrong. I didn’t cheat, I didn’t dope,” Halep said.

“It’s better if we read the ruling from CAS that it was a contaminated supplement, it was not doping and I never had anything to do with doping. I’m not a cheater.

“Thank you to the tournament for giving me the wildcard and the opportunity to play, it was great to be back and just one person being negative about me is not important.

“I have hundreds of people giving me love, so I’ll take that. To see the crowd supporting me was so nice, it gave me a lot of energy, and the level of tennis was pretty good, unexpectedly I think.”