Christian Horner: Max Verstappen more likely to stay at Red Bull now?

Max Verstappen has a contract with Red Bull until 2028 , but he is being courted by Mercedes .

The Dutchman was uncomfortable about the sexual harassment allegations made against Christian Horner by a female employee last year - and of which Horner was twice cleared by internal investigations.

It remains to be seen whether Red Bull's decision to remove Horner from his operational duties was a play to try to persuade Verstapen to stay with the team.

But there was no obvious issue on a personal level between Horner and Horner .

Max Verstappen has been unable to win races for Red Bull since Daniel Ricciardo left at the end of 2018 .

Not one of his team-mates has been able to get anywhere near him.

Yuki Tsunoda is often no faster than the drivers in Red Bull's second team Racing Bulls .

This lack of competitiveness was one of the ingredients in the mix that led to Red Bull boss Chris Horner 's departure.

Red Bull had become a difficult environment in many ways because of the issues surrounding Horner .

Horner was blocking the move because of his fractious personal relationship with McLaren Racing chief executive officer Zak Brown .