Lewis Hamilton said Jos Verstappen’s interference at Red Bull and the recent Christian Horner controversy is “not helpful.”
The father of Max Verstappen expressed heated opinions regarding team principal Horner and his recent controversy after being investigated for ‘inappropriate conduct’, saying Red Bull could “explode” if the Britton remained in his role, and that he was causing problems.
Some even suggested Jos was behind some of the information revealed about the team principal during the Bahrain Grand Prix, but he later denied those allegations, saying it ‘wouldn’t make sense’.
When asked about the comments, Hamilton said he doesn’t “know the details so I don’t know what he’s basing these foundations off.
“But at the end of the day, he’s not a part of the team, he’s a parent and so that’s just an opinion, but it’s definitely not helpful.”
The Mercedes driver said that the involvement of parents in the career of their children is “a very thin line to walk.”
“You meet some people who have a great relationship with their parents, and they’ve been amazing parents, and then you’ve got people that have had bad relationships.
“So I don’t know about his [Verstappen’s] relationships. Obviously, you hear things here and there. But Max is a grown man, and he’s a champion, and I’m sure he can make his own decisions.
“In our world, as drivers, it’s very, very easy to be misled by people whispering in your ear, and perhaps not guiding you always the right way,” the 7-time World Champion added.
“I’m not saying that’s the case there [with Max], because they’re doing great.
“But I know in sports, other athletes that I’ve spoken to that I see, whether it’s in tennis -and I’ve experienced it- when you sometimes don’t have the right guidance around you, it leads to you either making the wrong decisions or not being able to perhaps be the best at what you do.
“But that’s clearly not the case there, he’s [Verstappen] performing well,” Hamilton cautiously said.
“So it is very difficult because you want your parent to be your parent, and have a good relationship. But when business is involved, it makes it really difficult.”