Ralf Schumacher wouldn’t be surprised if the “unrest” at Red Bull drove Max Verstappen to join Mercedes, after all, who “would have thought” Lewis Hamilton would leave the Brackley squad?
Red Bull won the Bahrain Grand Prix with Verstappen leading home Sergio Perez in a 1-2 result, however, that was overshadowed by their team boss Horner’s troubles.
Dogged by allegations of inappropriate behaviour, for which it must be noted a lengthy investigation was later dismissed by Red Bull’s parent company Red Bull GmbH, Horner was back in the headlines on the Thursday of the Bahrain weekend when an email was leaked claiming to contain information relating to the investigation.
Since then video footage of a heated argument between Horner and Jos Verstappen has emerged with Max Verstappen’s father going as far as to publicly call for Horner’s resignation.
As the unrest continues, although denied by Red Bull who told PA the team is “united”, it has been suggested Mercedes could make a play for Verstappen to replace the Ferrari-bound Hamilton next season.
Schumacher, a former F1 driver, says he wouldn’t be surprised if it happened.
“I wouldn’t say no,” he told Sky Deutschland.
“There is unrest that has to be dealt with quickly. If there are currents and someone in the team loses motivation, things like that happen very quickly.
“Formula 1 is known for something like that – who would have thought a few months ago that Lewis Hamilton would leave Mercedes?”
Labelling the Horner situation and the leaked email “political murder”, Schumacher added: “I believe that when you see how bad the mood is against him, he is untenable and should resign in the interests of the team.”
The German surmises the team boss’ relationship with key Red Bull personnel has taken a hit in the saga.
“That speaks volumes,” he said of the team’s Bahrain celebrations where Horner stood apart from Helmut Marko and Adrian Newey and wasn’t the first person to receive a hug from Max Verstappen, who first celebrated with Red Bull’s co-owner Chalerm Yoovidhya.
“[But] We can’t look into people’s minds,” Schumacher admitted. “But the problem definitely needs to be clarified.”
However, contrary to Schumacher’s opinion that Verstappen could walk away from Red Bull, his father Jos has all but backed him to stay as he denied being the source of the email.
“Why would I do that? Max has a contract with Red Bull until 2028, is performing great and feels at home here. I have no interest in that at all,” he told De Telegraaf.
Even Toto Wolff doesn’t foresee the triple World Champion jumping ship as at the end of the day it’s Red Bull who have the best car on the grid.
“I think the driver will always choose the quickest car, that is fundamentally what it’s all about,” he told the media including PlanetF1.com.
“At the moment, Red Bull is the quickest car so that will, in my opinion, always be the priority.”
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