Author Archives: PressBox

Christian Horner and Helmut Marko have renewed their long-running dispute over Max Verstappen’s move to Red Bull, with Horner saying in his upcoming autobiography, “Drive,” that Marko did not want Verstappen at the team and that Jos Verstappen had to push the deal through. The book is due out on Oct. 22.

Marko rejected Horner’s account and said he was ignoring it as much as possible. He said he first approached Verstappen when the future Formula 1 champion was 11 and a half years old, and that Jos Verstappen initially thought it was too early for his son to make the move. Marko said Verstappen’s success in karting and later Formula 3 helped drive his rise at Red Bull.

Marko also said Horner doubted Verstappen was ready when he joined Red Bull in 2016 and tried to block Verstappen’s promotion to the Formula 1 team that year. He said he had to stand his ground before Verstappen’s first race for Red Bull in Barcelona. Marko said his relationship with Horner worsened after Dietrich Mateschitz’s death, and that it had deteriorated before Horner was removed after the 2025 British Grand Prix. He also backed Ralf Schumacher’s description of Horner’s claim as “an absolute lie.”

Mercedes will use the Singapore Grand Prix to compare its latest aerodynamic upgrade with older-specification parts after the new W17 package failed to produce the expected gain in Malaysia. Toto Wolff said the team has identified areas to investigate and warned the update may have made the car slower rather than faster, with Mercedes expecting around 0.3 seconds of improvement but fearing the package could have cost as much as 0.5 seconds.

Singapore’s very different street circuit should help show whether the issue lies with the aero package or with the rough, hot conditions in Sepang, and Mercedes could roll back the upgrade later if it is judged not to have worked. The team will also have to contend with George Russell’s separate Singapore grid penalty, which will drop him to the back of the field and adds to Mercedes’ difficult weekend context.

Charles Leclerc said Ferrari need to study why Red Bull make better race-day strategy calls after Ferrari’s tire gamble backfired in changing conditions at the Bahrain Grand Prix. Ferrari started Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton on soft, slick tires on a damp track, while Red Bull sent Max Verstappen and Isack Hadjar out on intermediates. The rain and wetter-than-expected surface quickly sent Ferrari backward, and Leclerc said the team had underestimated how much water was on the track.

Leclerc said Ferrari had agreed on the tire decision, then acknowledged the team had made the wrong call after initially saying he was aligned with it. He said Red Bull, led by chief strategist Hannah Schmitz, gets its calls right most of the time with both cars and that Ferrari needs to understand what Red Bull is doing better. Leclerc pitted at the end of the opening lap, clipped Nico Hulkenberg’s Audi later, needed a new front wing and switched to intermediates.

Ferrari’s recovery left Hamilton third and Leclerc fourth, with George Russell’s retirement after a Mercedes power unit failure helping open the door. Verstappen converted pole position into victory. Leclerc said the result was broadly where Ferrari expected to finish, but the opening tire choice left the team with work to do on strategy in mixed conditions.