When Max Verstappen dropped 'He is not a liar' defense for his father Jos Verstappen in the spat with Red Bull's Christian Horner

Max Verstappen defended his father, Jos Verstappen, in the latter's spat with Red Bull team principal Christian Horner, which exploded in 2024. Responding to Jos' demand for Horner's resignation, the four-time world champion stated that his dad was not a liar.

The 2024 F1 season had a huge controversy around Red Bull boss Christian Horner. The latter was accused of sending inappropriate text messages to a female employee. This reportedly gave rise to internal political turmoil in Red Bull, with Jos Verstappen turning against Horner.

In a statement given during the 2024 Bahrain Grand Prix, Jos said that Horner's stay as team principal would do more harm to the organization than any good and that his resignation was the right way forward.

This put Max at the crossroads. When asked to break his silence on Jos' comments against Horner, Max said:

"[Jos] is always very outspoken. He is not a liar, that's for sure. My dad and I are very close. We call every day, even if he is not around. But I am not a guy who likes to speak a lot about certain stuff, and I just want to focus on the driving, and if there are issues, we try to resolve them within the team. That is what I can say about things. For the team, it is very important that we can talk about the performance of our great car."

The controversy eventually fizzled out as Christian Horner was cleared of all the charges by Red Bull's internal investigation committee. While the evidence of the alleged case was reportedly leaked in the Paddock, the material was never verified or authenticated.

Horner continued to fulfill his duties as team principal for the 2024 season with the Red Bull clan, calling a truce to safeguard the team's working environment.

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Max Verstappen calls Christian Horner's case 'unpleasant' for Red Bull

Christian Horner [L] Max Verstappen [R] (Image Source: Getty)

Christian Horner's getting accused of inappropriate behavior put Red Bull in a fix last season. While the team principal was cleared of any wrongdoing, the controversy left the team shaken.

Meanwhile, Max Verstappen addressed the matter during a recent conversation with Blick. He opined that the late Red Bull founder Dietrich Mateschitz could have resolved the issue faster.

''Of course that [Christian Horner investigation] was not pleasant, but I would say that the matter with Dietrich Mateschitz would have been resolved much faster." he said, via GP Blog.

Dietrich Mateschitz had been a close ally to Horner for the past two decades. However, his unfortunate death in 2022 reportedly created a rift in the team.

Meanwhile, the aftershocks of the Horner investigation likely hampered Red Bull's performance throughout the 2024 season as they missed out on the Constructors championship, finishing P3.