In typical fashion, Max Verstappen remains unperturbed by persistent rumpus linking him to an exit from Formula 1 giants Red Bull.
It seemed everyone was hitting the panic button after Red Bull’s underwhelming Bahrain Grand Prix, where pace and pit-stop troubles held Verstappen to a sixth-place finish.
Helmut Marko was seen remonstrating with Verstappen’s manager Raymond Vermeulen, there were talks of crisis meetings, and Red Bull’s senior advisor went as far as telling Sky Germany that there is great “concern” the flying Dutchman could call it a day and move elsewhere.
The past 12 months have seen reported interest from Mercedes and Aston Martin, and the speculation is mounting after the dismal affair Red Bull endured at the Bahrain International Circuit.
Is Verstappen fazed by any of this talk? Not a chance.
I mean, honestly, a lot of people are talking about it, except me,” Verstappen told select media, including Motorsport Week, at the Jeddah Corniche Circuit on Thursday.
“ I just want to focus on my car, work with the people in the team.
“That’s the only thing that I’m thinking about in F1 at the moment. I’m very relaxed.”
As the questions kept circling back to his future with Red Bull, Verstappen continued banging the drum that his focus is on fixing the RB21’s problems.
“I just keep working, you know, keep trying to improve the car,” he said.
“Naturally, Bahrain wasn’t a great weekend for us. I think we were all pretty disappointed with that. And yeah, we just keep on trying to improve the car, come up with new ideas to try on the car, competition and stuff.
“That’s how I go about my weeks, you know, just trying to improve the situation.”
Red Bull and Verstappen on the same page regarding problem solving
Verstappen added that he’s “happy” in his current surroundings and again, it’s the car that’s the problem and everyone within Red Bull appears to be on the same page.
“I’m just not very happy with, of course, our car,” he said.
“But that’s, I think it goes for everyone. We all want to be better.
“I think there’s no secret about that. So that’s what we are trying to improve.
“So with the people about the car, I think we’re all very much aligned, you know.”
And when it comes to the supposedly heated confrontation between Vermeulen and Marko in Bahrain, Verstappen sees nothing wrong with it.
The exchange, he said, shows that everyone associated with his place at Red Bull wants the best for the team.
“I think, to my knowledge, I think they were having just a conversation about everything, which I think is allowed,” Verstappen opined.
“So now if someone, of course, picks up on it, people can always see it in their own way, right? How people are discussing things.
“But I think we were all left frustrated with the result [in Bahrain] and of course, the things that went wrong in the race. And I think that’s where my manager Raymond and Helmut spoke about.
“Even [Red Bull Team Principal] Christian [Horner] came along as well.
“So they all had a conversation. And yeah, I think that should be allowed.
“You know, we all care at the end of the day. We care about the team. We care about the people. We care about results. I think that’s quite normal.”
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