Author: quyen1

Credits: IMAGO PanoramiC, IMAGO Eibner

After the 2023 season, no one would have expected Max Verstappen to leave Red Bull on the back of such a dominating world championship win. However, the supposed internal conflict within Red Bull Racing, which came to light through the internal investigation against Christian Horner during the pre-season, has threatened the stability of the team. To take advantage of Red Bull’s precarious situation, Toto Wolff has been trying everything he can to convince Verstappen to join Mercedes.

The recent slump in the performance of Red Bull has only helped fuel the speculation of Verstappen‘s exit. However, Verstappen has destroyed any hope Wolff might have had of securing his services as the 26-year-old recently confirmed that he intends to stay at Red Bull.

“I think we still have a very, very fast car, and if you look at the season average so far, I think we have the fastest car. Otherwise, you wouldn’t be leading the championship,” said the reigning world champion regarding the recent dip in Red Bull’s form as per a recent post on X.

Another big reason why many thought Verstappen would want to leave Red Bull was a possible concern regarding the team’s upcoming partnership with Ford to develop their own power unit for the big change in the engine regulations, starting in 2026. However, Verstappen remains unfazed by these challenges.

He expressed his happiness with Red Bull’s long-term investments in Red Bull Powertrains, the division responsible for developing their engine. “I’m happy where I am. There’s also a lot of investment on the engine side – in Red Bull Powertrains – and I’m happy. We just need to keep working, keep trying to improve our package,” he added.

Verstappen’s commitment to Red Bull also suggests that Helmut Marko will stay on the team. Previously, Verstappen had threatened to leave Red Bull if the team sacked Marko for the latter’s alleged involvement in compromising Horner.

Max Verstappen threatened to leave Red Bull mid-season

An anonymous source leaked documents from the internal investigation to the wider F1 community ahead of the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix after Red Bull GmbH exonerated Christian Horner for the alleged inappropriate behavior against a female employee.

Marko, who has close ties with the Verstappen camp, later told the media that his position in the team was in doubt as he was put under investigation for supposedly leaking the said documents. When Verstappen learned that the team could oust Marko, he immediately made clear that the Austrian’s presence in the team was important for him to stay.

However, a couple of days later, the investigation against Dr. Marko was called off. This happened after he met with Oliver Mintzlaff, the Managing Director of Red Bull GmbH following the race in Jeddah.

MARIA SHARAPOVA stunned in an elegant outfit while she “sang a sad pop song” with Lewis Hamilton.

The world’s sexiest tennis ace and the F1 star were pictured together speaking on a panel at the Monaco GP.

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Maria Sharapova joked that she had been pictured ‘singing Lewis Hamilton a sad pop song’Credit: https://www.instagram.com/mariasharapova/

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Sharapova was in Monaco for the iconic Grand PrixCredit: https://www.instagram.com/mariasharapova/

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She was dubbed the world’s sexiest tennis player throughout her careerCredit: https://www.instagram.com/mariasharapova/
Sharapova, 37, shared the picture on her Instagram account along with a few more snaps of her trip.

In the pictures she was wearing an stunning red dress made by Stella McCartney.

On the snap of the two of them together, she joked that it looked like they were signing a “sad pop song”.

She captioned the post: “A few more from Monaco…🏁

“Just singing a sad pop song with Lewis Hamilton.

“And a hot red @stellamccartney number.”

Sharapova is a huge F1 fan and has been a long-time friend of the future Ferrari driver.

Her 4.6million followers loved the snaps as they flooded the comment section.

One posted: “Gorgeous in red.”

A second commented: “Meeting of the GOATs of their respective sports.”
Lewis Hamilton grimaces as he ‘eats a dog biscuit’ in NFL schedule release video for team F1 star part owns
A third wrote: “So much talent in this picture!”

A fourth said: “Queen. I would love to hear you sing, though.”

Another added: “Maria is definitely singing a Kylie Minogue ballad to Lewis.”

The 37-year-old retired in 2020 after claiming over £30million in career prize money.

She had even been dubbed the “world’s sexiest tennis star” during her career.

Sharapova has since regularly shown off her bold outfit choices on social media to the delight of her 4.6million Instagram followers.

She wowed fans earlier this month with a “fairy tale” dress at the Met Gala in New York.

Meanwhile, Sharapova also rocked another bold outfit on a recent awards show red carpet as she turned heads at the event.

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Sharapova is a big F1 fanCredit: Splash

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And she loves to spend time on the catwalkCredit: Rex

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She has built up a huge online followingCredit: Splash

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The tennis star has 4.6million followers on InstagramCredit: Rex

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🏁 Complete F1 2024 race calendar – details on every Grand Prix and start time this year 🏁 

Kimi Antonelli may have to wait to make is F1 debut because of a rule introduced because of Max Verstappen

Max Verstappen has offered advice to Mercedes junior Andrea Kimi Antonelli as he progresses through the junior categories in the hope of a Formula 1 seat in future.

The 17-year-old is known to be one of the candidates to replace Lewis Hamilton at Mercedes next season, though the team are looking to sign Verstappen from Red Bull if the opportunity arises, though he remains under contract with the reigning World Champions until 2028.

Max Verstappen offers ‘very talented’ Kimi Antonelli F1 advice: ‘Make mistakes’

Additional reporting by Sam Cooper

Verstappen became the youngest ever Formula 1 driver when he made his debut with Toro Rosso back in 2015, and the FIA has since introduced a minimum age drivers can be eligible to race in the top series, of 18.

Antonelli does not reach that age until August but has impressed enough in his junior career to have jumped straight from Formula 4 and into Formula 2, with Verstappen having gone into Formula 1 cars with only F3 experience as his quickest cars beforehand.

With that, he encouraged the Italian to “make mistakes” while he is still young and learn from them, as he did in his younger days – because he can see he is a “very talented” driver in the making.

“Well, hopefully nothing too intimidating, but, you know, you’re such a rookie, you know, that there’s so many things that you still have to learn,” Verstappen told media including PlanetF1.com when asked about his experience of reaching the Formula 1 paddock as a teenager, and whether he had any advice for Antonelli.

“I mean, for me personally, the biggest one was actually doing a full race distance.

“Like, in F3 at the time, you know, you did 35-minute races, so there’s a lot more involved.

“But yeah, just going through the good moments, the bad moments, how you come out of these things, difficult weekends, where it’s just not working for you or whatever. Like, there’s so much to learn.

“But on the other hand, also, don’t try to think about it too much. Just let it go.

“When you’re talented – and you can see that with Kimi, he’s very talented – I don’t think you should be too worried, you know, just… make mistakes.

“I mean, you have to make mistakes. Ideally, of course, you like to make those mistakes when you’re not fighting for championships or whatever, so I also got lucky with that, you know, starting at Toro Rosso at the time, not many people are looking at you all the time, so you can make some silly mistakes here and there.

“But it’s important to make them because even though you tell yourself all the time ‘I cannot do this or I cannot do that’, you will only adapt really if you make them and then move forward.

“Just in general, growing up as a person as well, I guess, even outside the car, knowing what you want in your private life, and then it’s just understanding the set-up of a racing car more and more over time.

“Of course cars evolve, but when you’re with one particular team, at one point you know more or less what works or not.

“Being with the same kind of race engineers and people around you that fine tune the car for you, all these kind of things, the more you spend time with them, the more it comes to you.

“But again, don’t try to think about it too much, just let it happen. When you’re that young, just focus on trying to go as fast as you can, make your mistakes, you know, have good race results and just try not to think about it too much.

“Now you can explain all of this, but at the time you don’t know that, right?

“So it’s like, just ease into it, and then you have good people around you, normally in the team, that will coach you around this.”

Lewis Hamilton is leaving Mercedes for Ferrari at the end of the year.

Despite being a Formula 1 driver who races at 350 km/h, it was a surfing accident and not a racing crash that had Lewis Hamilton thinking “it’s all over”.

Lewis Hamilton has recorded several big crashes during his time in Formula 1, most notably at the 2007 European Grand Prix, 2012 Belgian Grand Prix and more recently at the 2021 Italian race.

Lewis Hamilton: That for me was like: ‘it’s over, it’s all over’

Contesting his debut season back in 2007, Hamilton was airlifted to hospital for precautionary checks when he crashed into the barrier at 280 km/h during qualifying after his right front tyre burst, leaving him as a mere passenger.

A few years later he was one of the drivers caught up in Romain Grosjean’s crash at the start of the Belgian Grand Prix, Hamilton was sent nose-first into rival drivers, pitching the nose of his McLaren into the air before coming down hard.

The more recent of his three big crashes was in Italy in 2021 as he battled Max Verstappen for the World title, the two were involved in a crash that had the Red Bull driver’s RB16B landing on Hamilton’s Halo.

And yet it was a surfing accident that had the seven-time World Champion thinking this is how it ends.

Catching waves with surfing legend Kelly Slater at the Pipeline, which is billed as the ‘one of the most complicated breaks in the world with multiple take off points all breaking over a razor-sharp reef’ by American Surf Magazine, Slater warned Hamilton he was heading towards trouble.

The Briton, though, still paddled towards the waves only for things to go horribly wrong.

“The biggest wipeout I had I was with Kelly Slater, on Pipeline,” he revealed on the Hot Ones.

“It was like 20ft waves and Kelly was like ‘there’s no way you’re coming out there. You’re crazy.’

“As I started to try to paddle in I got sucked into the ‘kill zone’ basically.

“So I got sucked in, and I turn around and see this set of four waves coming and that for me was like: ‘it’s over, it’s all over’.

“As I threw my board, I dove down and grabbed the reef and I could hear this wave crash behind me. My board got ripped off and snapped in half.

“I came back up, obviously gasping for air and the next one was coming so back down, grabbed the reef again as another wave comes over. So I did that three times.

“I got up, I’d nearly run out of air. I’d nearly drowned but managed to swim back from there.

“But after that I was ‘Okay, massive props to these surfers’.”

The seven-time World Champion remains an avid surfer having had his first surf lessons at the Wadi Adventure wave pool in Abu Dhabi in 2014.

He took to social media back then to say: “These waves are amazing, but the best thing is no sharks! No chance of getting my ass bit!”

Max Verstappen endured his most difficult weekend for some time in Monaco

Max Verstappen has defended his performance at the Monaco Grand Prix, claiming nobody in the paddock would have been able to drive the Red Bull RB20 “faster than me” last weekend.

Verstappen has established himself as the dominant force of modern F1, winning 49 of the last 74 races to claim three consecutive World Championships.

Max Verstappen challenges whole F1 2024 field to drive Red Bull RB20

A fourth title had looked inevitable after Verstappen started the F1 2024 season by winning four of the first five races – including three one-two finishes for Red Bull – to establish a clear lead in the Drivers’ and Constructors’ standings.

However, with McLaren and Ferrari improving quickly Red Bull have looked increasingly vulnerable over recent weeks with Verstappen winning one of the last three rounds as Lando Norris and Charles Leclerc triumphed in Miami and Monaco respectively.

Verstappen could only manage sixth on the grid in Monaco as team-mate Sergio Perez failed to reach Q3 for the second race in succession.

Verstappen’s lead over Monaco winner Charles Lelcerc in the World Championship has been cut to 31 points, with Red Bull now just 24 ahead of Ferrari.

Speaking to media including PlanetF1.com after qualifying, Verstappen admitted Red Bull got “found out” in Monaco for not addressing a weakness of the car which had been present since the first year of F1’s ground effect rules in 2022.

The Dutchman went to liken the RB20 to a go-kart around the principality, claiming the car was “jumping around a lot” and “not absorbing any kerb strikes or bumps or camber changes.”

And Verstappen believes no other driver would have salvaged a sixth-place finish in Monaco with the car so recalcitrant.

Asked if he made his first mistakes of F1 2024 in Monaco, he replied: “I would say no. And I would be happy to invite anyone in the paddock to drive this car faster than me.”

Red Bull’s performance last weekend prompted Verstappen’s father Jos to declare that the team’s dominance of F1 is now over, with Verstappen Sr urging the Milton Keynes-based outfit to respond in the face of a renewed threat from Ferrari and McLaren.

He told Dutch publication De Telegraaf: “For sure there will be other tracks where Red Bull will do well again, but I am very curious [to see] how they will solve these problems.

“They will have to do something about it, understand where certain difficulties come from. Meanwhile, it is clear that McLaren and Ferrari are getting closer and closer.

“Max has been good at hiding some of the problems, but you can see how big the difference is between him and his team-mate.

“It seems to me that Red Bull’s period of dominance has come to an end.”

Red Bull director Helmut Marko has revealed that a former Formula One star has expressed interest in returning to the sport and replacing number two driver Sergio Perez.

The reigning world champions’ current driver line-up is led by three-time world champion, Max Verstappen, with the experienced Perez alongside him.

Red Bull currently lead the constructors championship by 24 points from second-placed Ferrari, with Verstappen on top of the driver standings, and the Mexican driver in fifth.

It is expected that Perez will be offered a new contract by Red Bull, according to the Mirror, and they are confident he is the right man to continue partnering their star man, Verstappen.

However, despite this, Marko has shared that four-time world champion, Sebastian Vettel, wants to comeback to the team he won all his titles with.

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Retired four-time world champion, Sebastian Vettel (left), is reportedly keen on a return to Red Bull

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Red Bull director Helmut Marko has revealed that Vettel has enquired about taking Perez’s spot as number two to Max Vertsappen

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Max Verstappen (left) and Sergio Perez (right) are currently the driving duo at Red Bull racing

Speaking to German media outlet, Formel1.de, Red Bull’s advisor said: ‘[Vettel] has repeatedly enquired with us, but I don’t think it would be pleasant for him to drive next to Max Verstappen.’

While Marko does not see a return to Red Bull as the right thing for Vettel, he does see a return for to racing in his future.

Marko won Le Mans with Porsche in 1971, and believes that the endurance-based racing format could be the best direction for him to go in, even insinuating he is already on the path to it.

Red Bull’s advisor claimed: ‘If I’m correctly informed, he seems to be moving towards Porsche and long-distance racing. I think that would be a very nice step for him.’

The 36-year-old retired back in 2022 at Aston Martin after completing nearly 300 grand prix’s over a 15-year period in F1.

Vettel raced for BMW Sauber, Toro Rosso, and Ferrari, in addition to his two-year spell at Aston Martin and five years at Red Bull.

The German is the youngest world champion ever in the sport, winning his first title, while at Red Bull, in 2010, at just 23 years of age.

Three more followed in three years, he had reigned supreme in four consecutive seasons by the time he was 26.

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Vettel won four drivers’ championships in a row during his five years at Red Bull

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Marko has hinted that Vettel may be on his way to Le Mans to race for Porsche instead

After losing out to Lewis Hamilton in 2014, his time at Red Bull came to an end, and with that, his dominance of the drivers’ title.

Vettel remained a constant threat to Mercedes during the German team’s era of dominance, which was led by Hamilton, but he never got his hands won a world title again.

The ex-driver was recently in Imola for the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix weekend to commemorate the deaths of Ayrton Senna and Roland Ratzenberger, 30 years on, by taking part in a demonstration run.

Speaking to reporters on the race weekend, he addressed whether he is ready to return to the sport.

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The retired German driver ‘still very happy’ that he decided to leave the sport despite his reported interest to return

He said: ‘I miss great parts of it, but I don’t wake up in the mornings missing those moments on the podium when people shout your name.

‘I think I’m quite realistic about life and trying to take on new challenges. I’m content and there are a lot of things that I miss, but a lot of things that I don’t miss.

‘It was a tough call when I made it but I was thinking about coming back and I know beforehand that I would. But in the end nothing has changed, so I’m still very happy with my decision.’

Lewis Hamilton may drive one of the fastest cars in the world for a living, but his terrifying, near-death experience didn’t occur on a race track.

The seven-time Formula 1 world champion revealed the scary incident happened in Hawaii while surfing the infamous Pipeline with Kelly Slater.

‘It was 20-foot waves and Kelly was like “there’s no way you’re coming out there,”‘ Hamilton said during an interview on Hot Ones, which dropped Thursday.

‘As I started to try to paddle in, I got sucked into the kill zone,’ he went on.

‘I turn around and see this set of four waves coming. [I thought] “it’s over, it’s all over.”‘

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Lewis Hamilton recalled a near-death experience during a new Hot Ones interview

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He said the incident took place when he was trying his hand at surfing in Hawaii

The Mercedes driver, who counts the 11-time World Surfing League champ as a friend, said he jumped off his board and dove underwater to hold onto the reef.

‘I could hear this wave crash above me,’ he recalled.

‘My board got ripped off and snapped in half. I came back up gasping for air but the next one was coming so I went back down.’

Hamilton, who was eating an ultra spicy wing while telling the harrowing story, said he dove underwater three more times.

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Hamilton, who was surfing with Kelly Slater, thought ‘it was all over’ as the wave approached

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‘My board snapped in half. I came back up gasping for air but the next one was coming,’ he said

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The seven-time F1 champ eventually made it back to shore after the set of ’20-foot’ waves

‘I nearly ran out of air, I nearly drowned,’ he said.

Luckily, he ‘managed to swim back’ to shore from there.

Back in 2019, the British athlete joined Slater at his state-of-the-art Surf Ranch, in California’s central San Joaquin valley.

The facility, which is powered by renewable energy, is credited with creating the world’s largest open-barrel artificial wave.

‘New year, new sport, time to learn new things. Thank you #goat Kelly Slater for teaching me! That was rad,’ Hamilton captioned a post at the time.

Lewis Hamilton has admitted he has urinated in his Formula One car after previously admitting to Ellen DeGeneres he ‘can’t do it’.

F1 drivers, famously, have to relieve themselves during races because they consume huge amounts of liquid before getting into their cars.

A full bladder can be uncomfortable, as well as dangerous, because of the huge G-forces experienced by drivers as they navigate their way around circuits.

Hamilton also once revealed his mechanics told him legendary F1 driver Michael Schumacher ‘peed every single time he was in the car’.

But he also admitted at the time that he had never done it and thought he would never be able to go behind the wheel.

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Lewis Hamilton has admitted he has urinated in his Formula One car in Singapore recently

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Drivers have to relieve themselves during races after consuming huge amounts of liquid

Read More

Lewis Hamilton recalls the terrifying moment he thought he was going to DIE… and it wasn’t behind the wheel of an F1 car

However, during his appearance on Hot Wings that was released on Thursday, Hamilton admitted he wet himself in Singapore ‘two or three years ago’.

Singapore is widely-regarded as the most physically demanding race on the F1 calendar because of its brutal humidity and tropical climate.

Therefore drivers stock up on liquids to keep themselves hydrated throughout and it is no wonder Hamilton had to relieve himself.

Asked about how a driver’s weight can affect performance, Hamilton said: ‘Basically 10 kilograms is usually worth 0.25 or 0.3 of a second. So if you put 10 kilos or 22 pounds of fuel in the car you’ll just go slower.

‘There was one race where I was a kilo over so over a whole race distance it’s like 1.8 seconds (slower) or something like that.

‘We do have a drinks tube in the car but I never drink in the car. I just forget most of the time. So I usually have that weight taken out – it’s usually only like 500 milliliters.

‘Quite a lot of drivers, as far as I’m aware, pee in the car. I’ve drunk a lot before. Just before I get in the car I go as many times as possible right up until the last minute but I just can’t bring myself to pee myself.

‘I have once. It was Singapore, oh god, and it was like two or three years ago. The safety car came out and I was behind it and I was like ‘I’m dying’. Honestly, when your bladder is full with the g-force you’re pulling it’s really, really uncomfortable.

‘You just can’t focus on your job so I remember trying to go and I really had to force it. It’s really hard. But luckily I haven’t had to do it – only once.’

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Hamilton said in an interview with Ellen back in 2016 he had never relieved himself in his car

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Daniel Riccardo says drivers are desperate to get out and head to the toilets after the race

During an appearance on Ellen in 2016, Hamilton said then he had never relieved himself in his car.

He said: ‘You’re supposed to go in your suit, but I can’t do it. I’ve never done it. But there are drivers that do.

‘The driver that used to drive for the team, was Michael Schumacher, I don’t know if anyone’s heard of him, but legend racing driver, but my mechanics told me he peed every single time he was in the car.’

Australian driver Daniel Riccardo, currently at RB, was also asked about it by Ellen.

He said: ‘I’ve never done it. If you have to go, you just painfully hold on until the end, but every bump, every little kerb you hit hurts.’

Riccardo added before the 2021 Portuguese Grand Prix: ‘If you need to go, it just stings.

‘I’ve heard some have gone [during a race], before. One has not. I couldn’t. You know, you’re so tense, it’s just hard to go.

‘That’s why all of us, when we get to the grid, we jump out. We’re not going to like, I don’t know, check out Facebook or Instagram or something, we’re going to use the bathroom and try to be not in that predicament come the race.’

Lewis Hamilton proved he’s a true competitor when he went ‘full send’ during an interview on the popular internet show, Hot Ones.

The seven-time Formula 1 world champion winced as he began sweating and tearing up while downing a series of ultra-spicy wings throughout the video.

Hamilton revealed he had previously cancelled on the Hot Ones team ‘several times’ because he was nervous about the infamous spice challenge.

‘A part of it was scheduling [conflicts] but most of it was like, “I don’t know if I can do it,” he admitted.

‘Even on the way here I was honestly like, “how can I get out of this?”‘

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Lewis Hamilton went ‘full send’ during an interview on the popular internet show, Hot Ones

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‘On the way here I was honestly like, “how can I get out of this?”‘ he admitted

By the fifth wing, Hamilton was starting to struggle.

‘Holy s**t, it’s hard to talk,’ he said.

The following wing, coated in the notoriously spicy ‘Da Bomb Beyond Insanity’ sauce, caused the athlete the most distress.

However, at the end of the interview, he insisted on going back in for another dab of the condiment.

‘It hurts when I breathe … Do we go in again? We should just send it,’ he said.

Fans were quick to praise the Mercedes ace for his ‘legendary’ behavior.

‘Can we please talk about how Lewis finished all the sauces and then WENT BACK FOR MORE?!! This man is INSANE,’ one person commented on the YouTube video.

‘Lewis just making sure that no other F1 driver will ever top his performance by doing da bomb again,’ another joked.

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The Formula 1 world champion winced as he began sweating and tearing up during the clip

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He even insisted on going back in for another dab of the ‘Da Bomb Beyond Insanity’ sauce

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Hamilton also recalled a near-death experience while surfing with WSL champ Kelly Slater

A third person chimed in, ‘bro what, ive been watching hot ones since day one NO one came back for an extra bite of da bomb with a dab of the sauce… this is why he is legendary.’

Elsewhere in the interview, Hamilton recalled a terrifying, near-death experience while surfing with WSL champ Kelly Slater.

‘It was 20-foot waves and Kelly was like “there’s no way you’re coming out there,”‘ he said.

‘As I started to try to paddle in, I got sucked into the kill zone. I turn around and see this set of four waves coming. [I thought] “it’s over, it’s all over.”‘

The Ferrari-bound F1 driver then jumped off his board and dove underwater to hold onto the reef.

‘I could hear this wave crash above me,’ he recalled.

‘My board got ripped off and snapped in half. I came back up gasping for air but the next one was coming so I went back down … I nearly ran out of air, I nearly drowned.’

Ralf Schumacher has suggested that Red Bull will ‘sink into mediocrity’ within two seasons after claiming that the embattled constructor is ‘falling apart’ after a turbulent start to the 2024 season.

Formula One was rocked last week when news broke that chief technology officer Adrian Newey is reportedly considering moving away from the team, which he joined just a year after its debut in 2005.

Newey is widely considered the mastermind behind the constructor’s riotous success, which has seen the team’s star driver Max Verstappen claim three consecutive world championships since 2021, and the constructor win the championship in 2022 and 2023.

The legendary designer is contracted with Red Bull until the end of the 2025 season, and Newey has not yet publicly commented, but reports over the weekend suggested that the two parties held showdown talks to discuss his future.

The potential loss of Newey’s technical acumen would likely prove seismic for the team, which Schumacher – who previously called for team principal Christian Horner to resign – underscored on Monday.

Adrian Newey is reportedly set to call time on his 18-year stint at embattled team Red Bull

The legendary designer is thought to have held ‘showdown’ talks with the team (pictured with principal Christian Horner)

Ralf Schumacher offered a bleak prognosis of the future without their chief technology officer

‘Adrian Newey needs harmony, he needs a good atmosphere, a good workplace,’ the brother of seven-time world champion Michael told Sky Sports Germany.

‘And at the moment, you have to say clearly: Red Bull is falling apart.’

The English-based team has been at the centre of swirling controversy in the wake of an internal investigation into the conduct of its principal Christian Horner – which, despite the husband of Geri Halliwell being cleared of the allegations, shows no sign of abating.

The female employee involved in the investigation has since launched an appeal into the verdict, and gave evidence to the newly appointed KC last week.

There has been no suggestion that the appeal is tied to Newey’s reported decision, but Schumacher claimed that blame for his looming exit should be levelled at Horner.

‘The sole responsibility for this lies with Christian Horner, who is holding onto power with all his might,’ Schumacher added.

Star driver Max Verstappen has been linked with moves away from his team amid the chaos

Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff is thought to be preparing a bumper offer for the driver

‘I don’t think that will be the last problem he will have when Adrian Newey leaves him. Max Verstappen is already thinking about it too, as is Dr. Helmut Marko, if you watch him like that.’

World champion Verstappen has been unwilling to be drawn on the topic of chaos at his constructor since the start of the season, and has since been linked to a move away from Red Bull despite his contract set to run until 2028.

The Dutchman is thought to be in the process of being targeted by Mercedes, who are preparing to replace outgoing driver Lewis Hamilton at the end of the season.

Team principal Toto Wolff is reportedly gearing up to offer Verstappen a deal worth a staggering £128million per season, including bonuses.

But even if Verstappen does stay at the Milton Keynes-based constructor, Schumacher insisted the team’s prognosis is a negative one without Newey.

‘We remember last year when there were problems,’ he said.

‘(Newey) was ill once and then you immediately saw what was going on with Red Bull. Max Verstappen had difficulties.’

‘If he wants to continue (working), he has to be free. Otherwise, of course, he will still be blocked and won’t be able to work for a new team (if he breaks his contract and has to take gardening leave).

Schumacher has been levelled the blame for Newey’s possible departure at the door of Horner

‘I give Red Bull two more years and if they continue to hold on to Horner, the team will sink into mediocrity. I’m pretty sure of that.’

Newey is known as one of the greatest designers in Formula 1 history, winning 13 World Championship titles – six constructors’ crowns and seven for drivers – throughout his storied career.

Just five races into the season, on the track it appears to be business as usual for the exceedingly dominant Red Bull team.

Verstappen leads the drivers’ standings by an impressive 25 points, and the constructors’ by 44.