Max Verstappen 'privately supports father's stance on Christian Horner' with Red Bull exit possible

Horner was cleared of misconduct by Red Bull last week and is confident of retaining his position, one he's held for the past 19 years.

He continues to deny allegations of inappropriate behaviour, even in the face of alleged leaks of his WhatsApp and text messages.

Jos has warned Red Bull could 'explode' if Horner remains at the helm.

And the Daily Mail say Verstappen is 'believed to privately support his father's stance'.

Reports have suggested that FIA chief Mohammed Ben Sulayem has asked Verstappen to publicly back Horner.

He is yet to do so, though did say before Saturday's Bahrain Grand Prix that Horner was brilliant at his job.

There is currently talk of Verstappen potentially leaving Red Bull, with Jos reportedly confiding in close friends that his son is willing to walk away from the F1 side if he has to.

And one possibility that has been mooted is Verstappen joining Mercedes.

The Silver Arrows have a vacancy, with Lewis Hamilton set to move to Ferrari in 2025.

Relations between Jos and Mercedes chief Toto Wolff have been strained in the past, particularly after Verstappen was hospitalised following a crash with Hamilton in 2021.

They are believed to have improved significantly, however, which only serves to add fuel to the fire.

Jos and Wolff were seen dining together in Bahrain over the weekend, while they also stayed in the same Four Seasons hotel.

Mercedes wanted to sign Verstappen as a junior.

However, they were unable to offer him a seat when he was younger due to the fact they had both Hamilton and Nico Rosberg on their books at the time.

Wolff, meanwhile, was asked about Horner over the weekend.

And the Austrian called on F1 authorities to intervene on the matter, insisting they must 'set the compass right' over the controversy that surrounds his Red Bull counterpart.

“I think the moment I start to continue to question how this has been handled, I'm probably not doing any good to the whole issue," he said.

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“Then it could be seen that this is just about a power fight within F1. That's why I think it's not in the teams' hands.

“It's so much a bigger topic, that I don't want to diminish the whole situation by making it seem like the Mercedes or McLaren guy talks about the Red Bull guys.

“Let's see where it goes in the next days. I would very much hope that the governing body, the sanctioning body and the commercial rights holder set the compass right.”

He added: “I think the handling of the situation is very critical for F1,” he said.

“It's not in the hands of competitors to have any action, and we should look at ourselves in terms of what is it we can do in order to optimise on all of these topics: equality and diversity. That's what we're doing.

“I'm very proud that we are at the forefront of that. To judge about another person or another team, it's the governing body that needs to do that.

“They have it in their hand. And this is probably where we need to look at.”