Max Verstappen feted for overcoming father’s feud with Christian Horner

Max Verstappen has been praised for winning the F1 title in spite of Red Bull’s messy internal drama.

The scandal at the start of this year which involved Christian Horner threatened to interrupt Red Bull’s dominance.

Jos Verstappen, their star driver’s father, waded in and demanded Horner exit the team as tensions hit boiling point.

But Verstappen kept a cool head to deliver his fourth title in a row at the F1 Las Vegas Grand Prix.

“All of that going on, off-track, is difficult for a driver,” Jenson Button said to Sky Sports.

“But having a family member involved as well? Mentally it is really difficult.

“That shows the strength of Max because most racing drivers would struggle.”

Danica Patrick added: “The good thing as a driver? That’s all you have to deal with.

“Everyone else deals with the drama and you focus on being a driver. That doesn’t mean it’s easy to do that. But it’s your only job.

“You can’t control what everyone else does and says.

“Getting on with the job as a driver is your focus.

“This season was a demonstration of leadership, talent and will.

“The gap between him and Checo, they were so much closer in year’s past and it has grown.

“He took a car which was winning, to not winning, then having a performance like in Brazil.

“It shows his maturity and leadership, and his ability to get more out of the car.”

Verstappen’s own future at Red Bull came into question during the internal rumblings that involved his father and Horner.

He was linked to Mercedes at the time - and those whispers about a Red Bull exit have not yet fully disappeared.

But in Las Vegas none of these issues mattered as he cruised to P5, enough to make his lead in the drivers’ standings insurmountable with two rounds to go.