Christian Horner has lashed out at wild speculation suggesting Max Verstappen deliberately collided with George Russell at the Spanish GP to trigger a contract exit clause.
Many in the paddock agree that the Red Bull driver made intentional contact with Russell during a controversial re-pass in the closing stages of the race. Even Verstappen didn't deny it.
"Yes, it was done to me too," he said, as quoted by Belgian broadcaster Play Sports.
Red Bull advisor Dr Helmut Marko explained the incident on Servus TV on Monday: "Max took his foot off the throttle, which you can clearly see on the telemetry, and then he stepped on the throttle again.
"That was a miscalculation, and then, of course, all hell broke loose."
Verstappen, who now sits almost 50 points behind Oscar Piastri in the title race, initially showed no remorse.
"I can't do anything about it, so you just have to get on with it," he said. "Life goes on, right? I'm not in the championship anyway."
When asked if he feels added pressure amid the growing title deficit and his risk of an automatic race ban with just one super license point left, he replied: "No."
Though he left Barcelona without issuing a formal apology, Verstappen posted a more reflective message on Instagram the following day.
"Our tyre choice to the end and some moves after the safety car restart fuelled my frustration, leading to a move that was not right and shouldn't have happened," he wrote.
"I always give everything out there for the team and emotions can run high."
Christian Horner later confirmed via Instagram: "Max apologised in the debrief for his incident with Russell."
Still, former Mercedes engine boss Norbert Haug wasn't impressed.
"As far as I'm concerned, two very simple words are missing at the end of Verstappen's message — 'Sorry, George'," he told Sky Deutschland. "And maybe he can also apologise to the race management."
Haug added: "He is without a doubt the best driver of the moment, and has been for a long time. But he has to behave accordingly."
Horner, however, pushed back against some of Verstappen's critics, including 2016 world champion Nico Rosberg, who had called for Verstappen's disqualification. Horner called Rosberg's remarks "sensationalist."
He was even more direct when addressing Ralf Schumacher's claim that Verstappen may have engineered the incident to incur a penalty, risk a race ban, and eventually drop to fourth in the standings — thus activating a rumoured Red Bull contract exit clause.
"This theory is utter nonsense," Horner told Bild. "I haven't heard anything so stupid in a long time.
"Max is a racer through and through. He always wants to win, and he would never act like that."
Still, Ralf Schumacher doubled down, arguing that Verstappen's behavior reflects a deeper frustration.
"I think he realised that things are not going as he had hoped and that the update is not working so well," the German said.
