Max Verstappen has never publicly admitted what he did after Christian Horner’s ‘painful’ criticism in 2018

Max Verstappen is almost beyond reproach at Red Bull these days. Christian Horner would say nobody is bigger than the team, but Verstappen tests that statement more than any other F1 driver.

It’s simply a reflection of his talent. Verstappen has won the last four championships with Red Bull, putting him one short of Michael Schumacher’s record streak with Ferrari (2000-04).

If he matches Schumacher, then it wouldn’t be a surprise if many in the paddock started to call him the greatest of all time. It’s understandable, then, that Red Bull dread the thought of losing him.

They’re desperate to keep him happy, particularly amid the uncertainty around the team. They lost some key figures last year, most notably legendary designer Adrian Newey, and fell to their lowest constructors’ position since 2019.

What’s more, Red Bull are setting up their own powertrains division for the upcoming rule changes, which put them into unchartered territory. They know Verstappen can activate an exit clause in 2026, but they’d surely hand him a career-long contract in a heartbeat if he expressed a willingness.

He’s now approaching the 10-year anniversary of his surprise move to Red Bull in May 2016, just four races into the season. He was only 18 at the time, and remained raw for a number of years.

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It was clear from the outset in 2015 that Verstappen was a generational talent. But it took him until the turn of the decade to reach his current level.

His toughest period as an F1 driver to date was probably the start of the 2018 season. He finished sixth in Australia after an error-strewn performance, then crashed out of both qualifying and the race in Bahrain.

He would pick up a 10-second penalty for hitting Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel in China before the infamous collision with teammate Daniel Ricciardo in Azerbaijan. A podium in Spain represented an improvement, but he then blew a shot at pole in Monaco by suffering an FP3 crash that ruled him out of qualifying.

“This place bites and he got bitten pretty hard today in a session that doesn’t really count for anything, other than setting the car up,” Horner told Channel 4 after that incident. He’s in a car that’s capable of winning this Grand Prix and that will hurt him even more because you don’t get that many opportunities to win a Monaco Grand Prix.

“He needs to learn from it and stop making these errors. He knows that more than anybody and I would imagine that was a pretty painful qualifying for him watching what could have been.”

Verstappen was sixth in the standings after that race, with race-winner Daniel Ricciardo third on more than double the points. While he’s never admitted it publicly, Motorsport.com’s Alex Kalinauckas says he ‘dialled things back thereafter’.

A more cautious approach helped Verstappen to recover to fourth in the standings, two spots ahead of Ricciardo. He picked up 11 podiums overall, including victories in Austria and Mexico.

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Fellow four-time world champion Alain Prost has compared Verstappen to Niki Lauda. They’re both uncompromisingly honest behind a microphone.

If Red Bull are the third or fourth-fastest team in 2025, as they were at times last season, he’s bound to face constant questions over his future. His frustration would test his diplomacy.

As it stands, Horner is relaxed about Verstappen’s future. When asked about Aston Martin’s reported interest, he insisted that his superstar driver is ‘very happy where he is’.