Max Verstappen says F1 has become ‘too friendly’ since Christian Horner left Red Bull

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Max Verstappen has made his feelings clear on the current camaraderie within the F1 paddock following Christian Horner’s sudden departure from Red Bull Racing in July.

There is a lot for Max Verstappen to be positive about following the exit of his former boss at Red Bull, one of which is the fact that he is well within a shout of securing a fifth consecutive world championship.

It won’t come easy, though. The Dutchman is severely on the back foot as the F1 calendar reaches its final two rounds of the season, and he needs to turn a 24-point deficit around by the drop of the chequered flag in Abu Dhabi if he wants to etch his name in history once again.

However, he wouldn’t have been given the chance if not for the management style of Laurent Mekies, which has seen Red Bull regain their form of the past and challenge for race wins again.

Despite that, Verstappen still has one issue with the state of Formula 1 at the moment.

• READ MORE: Christian Horner now in ‘ongoing’ talks to buy rival F1 team after missing out on Aston Martin role

Max Verstappen thinks F1 has become ‘too friendly’ following Christian Horner’s exit from the paddock

Christian Horner has recently been linked with a potential move to Aston Martin, but following Adrian Newey’s appointment to the role of team principal, it marks another door that has closed up for the British executive.

However, in an interview with The Telegraph, Verstappen was asked about his thoughts on whether he thinks he will see his former boss back in the F1 paddock again, to which he replied, “I wouldn’t be surprised if he is back, right?

“I don’t speak to Christian about that because I don’t want to interfere. And maybe it was not good for us internally in the team, but for the F1 world, him against Toto [Wolff] or whoever, that was always enjoyable to see.

“Now everyone is too friendly!”

Horner regularly clashed with Wolff during his tenure at Red Bull. Given that they were often the frontrunning team alongside Mercedes, a rivalry was natural.

The relationship between the two team principals reached a tipping point during the highly controversial ending to the 2021 season.

After Max Verstappen was crowned champion under questionable circumstances, Wolff was furious with the way Horner handled himself in the aftermath.

• READ MORE: Toto Wolff has already explained why Aston Martin’s new plan for Adrian Newey and Andy Cowell is genius

Max Verstappen reveals the ‘problem’ that Red Bull had at Milton Keynes that led to Christian Horner’s exit

During his comments to the British news publication, the four-time world champion also revealed the ‘problem’ that Red Bull faced during the days leading up to Horner’s eventual dismissal.

Verstappen said, “The problem we had was that there was a lot of stuff that was going on.

“We were lost with the car, and that didn’t help in terms of keeping everything under control and quiet, and people were leaving, too.

“But everything together with the change in team boss, plus suddenly understanding the car, by coincidence it just brought peace because people were then suddenly more confident again and that calmed things down.”

Laurent Mekies has been hailed as the saviour of Verstappen and Red Bull’s season, after the Frenchman seemingly turned the trajectory of the team around upon his appointment following Horner’s exit.

The culture at Red Bull has seen a stark change from what it was under Horner, and recent results from the team suggest that the move has done nothing but good for the future of the Austrian constructor.