{"id":388178,"date":"2026-01-03T03:37:09","date_gmt":"2026-01-03T03:37:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/388178\/"},"modified":"2026-01-03T03:37:09","modified_gmt":"2026-01-03T03:37:09","slug":"verstappen-shares-personal-side-of-his-relationship-with-christian-horner","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/388178\/","title":{"rendered":"Verstappen shares personal side of his relationship with Christian Horner"},"content":{"rendered":"

Max Verstappen<\/a> has revealed that he still keeps in touch with Christian Horner<\/a>, even after the team principal\u2019s dismissal from Red Bull Racing<\/a>.\u201cYou’ll never forget that. Christian really went through fire for me.\u201d- Max Verstappen<\/p>\n

The four-time world champion, who reflected on the bond shared with the former team principal, highlighted how strong their connection was during Horner\u2019s stint at Red Bull Racing.<\/p>\n

\u201cUltimately, it’s always difficult. You’ve built up a bond with Christian and achieved so much, especially in 2021, those moments too. You’ll never forget that. Christian really went through fire for me. Those kinds of things are always difficult when you talk to each other on the phone,\u201d Verstappen said to Viaplay.<\/p>\n

Pressed further about the frequency of communication between himself and the former Red Bull boss, Verstappen continued:<\/p>\n

\"horner-and-max-verstappen-jpg\"\/<\/p>\n

Christian Horner and Max Verstappen in Red Bull’s garage – Photo: Race Pictures<\/p>\n

\u201cEvery week, every race. On Friday, Saturday and Sunday, and usually via text message. But also on holiday, for example. Every week.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Dutch driver continued by highlighting Horner\u2019s connection with the Red Bull team and gave a glimpse into the nature of their conversations:<\/p>\n

\u201cOf course, he knows everyone in the team, but it’s more about \u2018I wish you good luck\u2019 and \u2018I believe in you\u2019, my biggest fan. What we’ve all been through. But also, \u2018you know you can do it,\u2019 all that kind of stuff. And outside of that, of course, you talk about things other than racing, too.\u201d he concluded.<\/p>\n

Horner was shown the exit at the Red Bull Racing outfit during the course of the 2025 season<\/a>. The sacking of the British motorsport chief coincided with a dip in performance experienced by the Milton Keynes-based outfit, amid other off-track controversies he was embroiled in.Marko blames Horner for Verstappen\u2019s title lossEarlier, former Red Bull Racing advisor Helmut Marko pinned Verstappen\u2019s championship loss on Horner. <\/a><\/p>\n

The 82-year-old, who departed the Austrian outfit in the aftermath of the 2025 season, suggested that Verstappen would have won the drivers\u2019 title had Horner been sacked earlier.<\/p>\n

Catch up with GPBlog\u2019s latest Paddock Update<\/p>\n

As the commencement of the 2026 season draws nearer, our Paddock Update is the place to be.<\/p>\n

Follow and subscribe to our channels on YouTube and Spotify to stay up to date with all the happenings as they unfold, ahead of the first on-track action under the new Formula 1<\/a> regulations.<\/p>\n

Check out the latest episode of our Paddock Update here \ud83d\udc47<\/p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Max Verstappen has revealed that he still keeps in touch with Christian Horner, even after the team principal\u2019s…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":388179,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[573],"tags":[64,63,1199,817,35119,813,816,825,946,85],"class_list":{"0":"post-388178","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-formula-1","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-christian-horner","11":"tag-f1","12":"tag-f1-news","13":"tag-formula-1","14":"tag-formula1","15":"tag-max-verstappen","16":"tag-red-bull-racing","17":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/388178","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=388178"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/388178\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/388179"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=388178"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=388178"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=388178"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}