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Talks have surrounded Max Verstappen and his future with Red Bull F1, some saying that he could split with the team after 2017. While Verstappen hasn’t declined or accepted these rumors, team boss Christian Horner has actively spoken against them, saying he and his teammate Daniel Ricciardo will not leave the team “for any price.” These conversations have since continued even after he claimed they would stay put, but that doesn’t seem to phase Horner as he recently claimed that top teams Mercedes and Ferrari will not tempt Verstappen.
When asked if he saw Verstappen leaving his team, Horner told Autosport “I don’t think so. I think he can see what’s going on.”
“He’s impatient like any youngster but he’s objective enough to know that there’s good stuff in the pipeline,” he said.
Verstappen had formerly expressed his frustration with his RB13 car, explaining issues with both reliability and speed. Despite that, he still feels fast and able to keep pace with the likes of Vettel and Hamilton. His father and ex-F1 driver, Jos, said of his son, “He is doing everything right, and he feels good in his skin, but he just wants to win. That’s what you notice about Max. The disappointment that he cannot win, which is why he has had some problems. He has never experienced (not winning) before.”
Horner, however, remains optimistic on Verstappen’s outlook on the second half of 2017. “…from where we started the season to where we are now, the trajectory has been right there as soon as we sorted out the issues with correlation from earlier in the year. We’ve seen very sharp progress.”
Past that, he refused to go into further detail, instead deciding to focus on the remainder of the season. “There’s no point talking past the end of Max’s current contract at the moment, because it’s down to us to provide him with a car that he can compete and win in. And I’m sure if we do that, I don’t think there’s any other team that Max would rather be in.”
