Christian Horner has hit out at Mercedes rival Toto Wolff after the Austrian suggested that Max Verstappen might want to leave Red Bull.

Wolff has publicly flirted with the idea of speaking to Verstappen over the vacant seat at Mercedes in 2025.

Horner has been left furious over the discussion and is keen to put an end to the rumours.

In a passionate riposte, the Red Bull chief said: “I’m going to think carefully about what I say here. Have you spoken to Max about this? Because if you speak to Max, and it’s not about pieces of paper at the end of the day, we know that he has a contract to the end of 2028, it’s about how he feels in the team and the relationship he has in the team and the way he’s performing.

“I don’t think Toto’s problems are his drivers. I think he’s probably got other elements that he needs to be focusing on rather than focusing on drivers that are unavailable.

“I don’t know how many more times he needs to say it. He said it numerous times. I’m not going to get drawn into it – I think sometimes it’s just designed to create noise.”

Horner added: “We moved today ahead of the number of races that Mercedes have won in the modern era, so the team is in form, why on earth would you want to leave this team?,” Horner added.

“Mercedes are the third team behind their customers at the moment, so I would think his time would be better spent perhaps focusing on the team rather than the driver market.

“Have any of you heard George Russell is out of contract at the end of ’25? You know, maybe he might not be so keen to stay in ’26, you know, the market moves around.”