Christian Horner said Red Bull have not “suddenly become idiots overnight” as he sought to explain why Max Verstappen would want to remain with the team amid speculation linking the world champion to Mercedes.

Verstappen’s streak of four successive drivers’ titles looks set to come to an end this year with McLaren’s Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris having established a dominant position at the top of the standings as the season approaches its halfway point.

Mercedes boss Toto Wolff said on Friday that he is in “conversations” over attempting to sign Verstappen, despite the Dutchman being contracted to Red Bull until the end of 2028.

Speaking after an unfortunate first-lap incident saw Verstappen retire from the Austrian Grand Prix, Horner explained why he thinks the 27-year-old would have faith in Red Bull.

He said: “I still believe that we have strength in depth in this team.

“Unfortunately, we haven’t seen the performance come that we would like. We’re at the end of a set of regulations. I think we are compromised by some of the tools that we have.

“But it’s the same fundamental group of people that 18 months ago designed a car that won every single grand prix bar one. They didn’t suddenly just become idiots overnight.

“You have to acknowledge the great job that McLaren are doing, and congratulations to them.”

‘Mercedes have got their own problems’

Having publicly courted Verstappen last year after Lewis Hamilton’s blockbuster switch from Mercedes to Ferrari for 2025 was confirmed, Wolff had this year suggested he was no longer pursuing the 65-time race winner.

However, Mercedes driver George Russell revealed on Thursday that he believes his own contract extension is being delayed because his team are assessing their chances of signing Verstappen, with Wolff largely accepting the Briton’s comments were accurate.

With Red Bull’s other driver Yuki Tsunoda finishing last of the cars that completed the race, Horner was asked how difficult the poor result at the team’s home race was in the context of the speculation around Verstappen.

He replied: “I think they [Mercedes] have got their own problems. They were 62 seconds behind the race leader today.

“For us, we just focus on ourselves. We know what the situation is with Max. We know what the contracts are with Max, and you know the rest is all noise that’s not coming from here.”

Horner described Tsunoda’s race as “horrible” and admitted the team would continue to investigate why Verstappen’s recent team-mates have failed so miserably at attempting to come anywhere near his performance level.

“Yuki had a horrible race,” Horner said.

“Again, it started to go wrong for him in Q1 yesterday. His first run in Q1 was fine. Second run, he made a mistake at Turn One and then qualified badly, and then was running in traffic, unable to pass, then picks up a penalty. It just compounds things.

“Of course, we’ll look to see how we can support him, but there’s a big delta between the two cars. Of course, internally, we ask all of those questions that, no doubt you ask, in terms of why. Obviously, the car has evolved over the years in a specific direction.

“We’ll see if we can help Yuki and rebuild his confidence in Silverstone.”

‘Hopefully people won’t mention it too much anymore’ – Verstappen’s title bid over?

After being hit by Mercedes’ Kimi Antonelli on Sunday’s opening lap – an incident which brought up his first retirement in 32 races – Verstappen has fallen 61 points off the pace in the Drivers’ Championship.

Verstappen has said for several races that it did not feel as though he was truly in this year’s title fight given the competitiveness of McLaren. After Sunday’s damaging result, the Dutchman told Sky Sports F1: “Hopefully, then people will not mention it too much anymore.

“We try to do our best, always. My mentality doesn’t change. We’ve won a lot in the past.

“Sometimes you have to accept that you are not winning, and we just try to do the best that we can.”

Next up in the 2025 Formula 1 season is the big one, the British Grand Prix at Silverstone – live on Sky Sports F1 and Sky Showcase with coverage from Thursday to Sunday’s race at 3pm. Stream Sky Sports with NOW – no contract, cancel anytime.