Red Bull team principal Christian Horner has sensationally told Max Verstappen he is free to leave in a bombshell interview.
The 50-year-old’s comments came after the Dutch driver won the Saudi Grand Prix to make it back-to-back victories this season.
Verstappen recently threatened to quit the team amid the Horner scandal.
He has stated that should Red Bull advisor Helmut Marko depart, he would follow suit amid an investigation into the 80-year-old potentially leaking confidential information to the media.
A switch to Mercedes for Verstappen has been mooted with the Silver Arrows looking to replace Lewis Hamilton from the 2025 campaign.
And Horner, who has been cleared of ‘inappropriate behaviour’ towards a female colleague, has now stated that he wouldn’t stand in the way of the 26-year-old leaving.
Though he warned Verstappen that he wouldn’t find a quicker car on the grid than Red Bull, who have won the Constructors’ Championship for the last two years.
Horner said: “You can’t force somebody to be somewhere just because of a piece of paper.
“If somebody didn’t want to be at this team, then you know, we’re not going to force somebody against their will to be here.
“That applies whether it’s a machine operator or a designer or somebody in one of the support functions, that runs through the business.
“Being involved in a team like this involves commitment and passion. And Max has that, we’ve seen that.
“He’s been here since he was 18 years of age. And I have no doubt that his commitment and passion.
“But no individual is bigger than the team.
“We have a phenomenal car. We’ve got one seat open for next year. I probably got 16 drivers that are desperate to be in that car for next year.
“I’m sure every team in the paddock would love to have Max, but as Toto [Wolff, Mercedes boss] also said, the best drivers always want to be in the best cars.”