"Jos is not an easy character": Helmut Marko sheds light on the cause of rift between Max Verstappen's father and Christian Horner

Red Bull chief Helmut Marko has shed some light on the ongoing back and forth between Max Verstappen's father, Jos Verstappen, and Christian Horner and admitted that the situation is not ideal. The war of words was kicked off by Jos, who withdrew his name from the Legend's parade.

This was an event where former racing personalities would drive former racing cars, all the while engaging with the fans. Jos was supposed to drive the RB8, the car in which Sebastian Vettel won the title in 2012.

Jos Verstappen would withdraw from the parade earlier in the weekend and claim that Christian Horner had a role to play in it. Since then, Max Verstappen and Christian Horner have been embroiled in a war of words, as the Red Bull boss has categorically denied any involvement in Jos not driving in the legend's parade.

Helmut Marko has weighed in on the situation and shed some light on it. According to the Austrian, Max Verstappen's father can be hard to deal with, and at the same time, Christian Horner doesn't understand that he can't change him. Terming the whole thing unnecessary, Marko told Viaplay:

“I would describe it as we call it in German: 'kindergarten'. Unnecessary, and I am a little bit unhappy that it came to the public. First of all, Jos is not an easy character and Christian doesn’t understand or accept that Jos is Jos. He won’t change him and he does what he believes is right. If it’s right or not, it’s another question.”

"It's not nice"- Max Verstappen on the situation between his father and Christian Horner

Max Verstappen was also questioned about the back-and-forth between Jos Verstappen and Christian Horner, to which the driver said that the entire thing could have been avoided. Talking about how he understood why his father said what he said and why he felt that way, the Dutchman said:

“It’s not nice. I think not for myself, not for my dad, not for Christian or for the team. Because, you don’t want these things to happen. My dad has been quite clear about, you know, the reason behind it and of course, I can understand his opinion on that because at the end of the day, he gets asked to drive the car, finds out that he’s not wanted to drive the car."

He added,

“Well, my dad actually doesn’t care about driving the car. But he got asked and said ‘Please, you know, do it for the fans, Dutch fans, blah blah, Red Bull, we have a great relationship with, home track.’ So I understand. At the other end, I’m here, of course, to focus on the performance side of things. So I want a good relationship with everyone but of course, this scenario could have been avoided.”

The team is going through a lot in terms of political battles in 2024. Max Verstappen getting dragged into all of this is never a good thing because the driver has a championship to worry about. Marko's call for peace is something very interesting because that's something that has fallen on deaf ears until now.