Sebastian Vettel weighs in on Max Verstappen's Red Bull future amid Christian Horner stance

Sebastian Vettel does not expect Max Verstappen to walk away from Red Bull despite unrest behind the scenes.

Verstappen has been dragged into the civil war which has engulfed the Formula 1 champions. Team principal Christian Horner 's position has been under pressure from the Dutchman's dad Jos and long-serving team adviser Helmut Marko, with whom the Briton has fallen out with.

Marko's position is being protected somewhat by Verstappen's stance on the situation. He has not publicly taken sides, but did declare he would be willing to quit the team if his trusted ally Marko were to leave.

Mirror Sport understands Horner has the backing of not only Red Bull majority shareholder Chalerm Yoodivhya but also Austrian CEOs Franz Watzlawick and Oliver Mintzlaff. His position is strong enough that, should it come to a decision to keeping Horner or Verstappen, the company would prefer to let their star driver go.

An uneasy peace is in place for now after talks between the main belligerents. Still, though, Verstappen's future is a popular topic of discussion, especially with Toto Wolff falling over himself to bring the Dutchman to Mercedes to replace Lewis Hamilton.

Red Bull legend Vettel has now given his view of the situation and doubts Verstappen would walk away. "There is, of course, a lot of unrest at the moment, but I think from a sporting perspective there is currently no reason for him to think about anything else," the four-time F1 champion told German publication Sport.

Vettel also gave his verdict on one of the other big F1 news stories of recent months. Now watching all the drama unfold from home, having retired from the sport at the end of 2022, the 36-year-old was as shocked as the rest of us when Lewis Hamilton announced he plans to leave Mercedes for Ferrari.

The German, himself a former Ferrari driver, believes it must have been a "very, very difficult decision" for his friend and former rival to make, and revealed how he had contacted Hamilton after the move was confirmed.

He added: "Of course, like many others, I was surprised because of the connection he had with Mercedes over the years. I thought that somehow another report would come from 'I don't know where', but then it was confirmed. I then wrote to him straight away and congratulated him."

Vettel is not thinking about an F1 comeback any time soon but did test a Porsche Hypercar earlier this week. He has, however, yet to make a decision over whether he will make his debut at the famous 24 Hours of Le Mans race this June.