Brundle sees Verstappen's 'destructive' influence within Red Bull Racing

15:17, 13 Jul

Updated: 13:04, 15 Jul

byNicole Mulder

According to Martin Brundle, the influence of Max Verstappen at Red Bull Racing should not be underestimated. The former F1 driver believes that Christian Horner was too focused on the Dutchman, and that this harmed the team.

‘Verstappen destroyed teammates one by one’

Verstappen's dominance proved to be both a blessing and a pitfall for the Red Bull team, Martin Brundle shared his thoughts in the Sky Sports F1 podcast.

"They did have a string of great drivers, of course, with ‘DC’, Mark Webber, Seb Vettel, Daniel Ricciardo," Brundle reflects.

However, since Verstappen's arrival, the Formula 1 analyst noticed that nobody could match him. "But we've also seen a lot of great young drivers who are still on the grid, like Albon, Sainz, Gasly wrecked basically, because Max Vertappen is so unbelievably fast."

According to Brundle, Verstappen became such an influential force within the team that everything started to revolve around him. "And I think the problem Christian had is that Max became… I mean, he had to focus everything on Max and that's hurt the team, I think, to an extent in general," the former driver continued, who admits he was surprised by the timing of the dismissal.

"This is a strange time to do it and a strange urgency I would say to that. So, you know, we don't know what's going on behind closed doors, but I do know that team Verstappen were not happy with him there."

Brundle revealed shortly after Horner's dismissal how the former team boss reacted to the news. He states that Horner was not given a reason for getting fired, something that was also not present in the statement from Red Bull GmbH.

Meanwhile, interesting news has emerged in the German media: Helmut Marko, with Red Bull boss Oliver Mintzlaff, was present when Horner was dismissed. Additionally, the 82-year-old top advisor was present at various meetings that led to the decision.

Furthermore, it was reported that both Max Verstappen and shareholder Chalerm Yoovidhya did not show up at an annual event organized by Horner at his property.