Max Verstappen Applauds Red Bull’s ‘Fighting Mentality’ After Christian Horner Axe

Max Verstappen applauded Red Bull and their mentality to never give up and score well after firing Christian Horner after over two decades.

Max Verstappen Applauds Red Bull’s ‘Fighting Mentality’ After Christian Horner Axe

Max Verstappen and Christian Horner (via Red Bull Content Pool)

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Max Verstappen is suffering from a desperate performance slump in the 2025 season. Moreover, the team is also in a very unstable state, as they recently fired the longest-serving team principal in Christian Horner. Even though morale is low at Milton Keynes, the team isn’t giving up on their hopes to resurrect their performance and return to their winning ways. As such, Verstappen applauds the constructors’ fighting mentality, despite the circumstances.

Christian Horner‘s firing from Red Bull wasn’t much of a surprise for everyone, as Max Verstappen and Co. were already alleged of wanting the former snubbed from the team. As such, the team might be prepared for the massive task of rebuilding itself following Horner’s exit. Verstappen isn’t fazed by the incessant issues in performance yet, since the team has gone through such phases in the past.

Red Bull had won four drivers’ titles with Sebastian Vettel from 2010-2013 before immediately suffering from a downfall in pace. Accordingly, Red Bull’s current struggles weren’t out of the blue. Speaking of the recent changes to the squad, Max Verstappen reckoned that the team was undergoing a slight rebuilding. The Dutchman reassured that the constructor was still strong and needed to gain a step up.

Verstappen noted that these changes would take time to fix as the team needed to get a better grip on understanding the problems. However, the 27-year-old hoped that it wouldn’t take too long to get out of the performance slump and return back to their winning ways.

I feel like [it’s] slight rebuilding. We’re still of course a very strong team, but I do think that to make again a step up, there’s slight rebuilding or restructuring maybe, and understanding a little bit more what’s going on, and that of course takes a little bit of time, but hopefully not too much time.

Max Verstappen told F1

Max Verstappen asserted that the team also had a mentality to fight back from a dip and achieve a stronger comeback than the setback. Verstappen insisted that he wasn’t too worried about the recent slump, as the team always performed better after suffering from such intensive issues.

I think that’s also a bit the mentality of the team [to fight back from a dip], it’s always been like that, so I’m not too worried about that.

Max Verstappen added

Max Verstappen accepts Red Bull ‘not the quickest’ in 2025

Red Bull’s pace and performance from the RB21 chassis seem mediocre, especially against McLaren and Ferrari. Max Verstappen is unable to fight at the front of the track because of falling behind in pace. As such, the reigning world champion makes a shocking acceptance of the pace of the car in the 2025 season.

Max Verstappen (via Red Bull)
Max Verstappen (via Red Bull)

Max Verstappen emphasized that the team needed to just accept the harsh reality and their current position on the track. Verstappen insisted that the team wasn’t the quickest at the moment. However, he reassured that Milton Keynes wasn’t the slowest on the track either, as it wouldn’t be impossible to bounce back from this point forward. Regardless, the four-time champion is focused on improving and being better than the rivals despite not winning every race.

You also just have to accept where you’re at, Yeah, we are not the quickest at the moment, but we’re also not the slowest. We always want to be better, and actually that was the same when we were winning. Now we’re not winning that much.

Max Verstappenn noted

Verstappen will spend some quality time with his family over the summer break and get away from Formula 1. With only ten races left in the season, it will be interesting to witness what is next in the cards for the Dutchman this season. Regardless of the incessant performance struggles, the 27-year-old isn’t planning on leaving the team anytime soon, as he is in it for the long run.

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