Horner: Verstappen doesn't have father Jos' Red Bull F1 frustration
Christian Horner says Max Verstappen does not share the same frustrations about the current performance of the Red Bull Formula 1 team as his father Jos
Max recently admitted that Red Bull was unlikely to win a race again in 2019 after the team fell behind both Mercedes and Ferrari following the summer break.
His father Jos took to Dutch television to state his fears over a "lost year" for Red Bull for 2020 if it did not make changes.
But Horner says his driver Verstappen has spoken encouragingly of Red Bull's future - especially after visiting Honda in Japan to discuss 2020 plans.
Speaking to Autosport about Jos Verstappen's remarks on his son's frustrations, Horner said: "Max is a very different person to his father. He sees the bigger picture.
"He was in Sakura [before the Japanese GP] and he has seen what is coming, and the commitment of Honda to the development of the engine, and to F1.
"In the factory, he sees what is going on, so I think racing dads, unfortunately, can sometimes get a bit excited."
Verstappen's current contract with Red Bull expires at the end of 2020 and the team is keen to retain him for the new era of F1.
But Horner says that there is little chance of getting talks underway soon as the driver market is set to be in a state of flux in 2020 as a number of top drivers will become free agents.
Asked if he expected negotiations to wait until after this year, Horner said: "It will have to be.
"Max, Lewis [Hamilton] and Sebastian [Vettel] are all out of contract at the end of 2020, so three of the four big players are in the open market.
"Inevitably all of them will wait to see the relative performance of their individual teams during the course of next year, and I would say the first half of next year."
But while Verstappen has regularly been linked with a switch to Mercedes, Horner has faith that Red Bull can offer him what he wants long-term.
"It is very much within our control," he said. "He is very happy with the team environment.
"He wants to realise his ambitions here and it is down to us to provide him with a platform with which to do that.
"I am confident and hopeful that we can."
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