Max Verstappen reveals that his former Red Bull boss, Christian Horner still contacts him every race weekend.

While it would appear that it was the politics within Red Bull and not the Horner-saga that caused Adrian Newey to leave the Austrian team, the whole affair leaves a somewhat bitter taste in the mouth.

Whatever the rights or wrongs of what Horner did or didn't do, his contribution to the team was enormous, unlike those on the periphery who appear to have successfully stirred the pot to the point that he was driven out.

Much of the blame is put on the 'Austrian faction' within the organization, while Jos Verstappen also appears to have been 'in it up to his elbows', however, speaking in Qatar, Max Verstapen revealed that he is still in touch with his old boss.

"Yes. Every race weekend," replied the Dutchman when asked if he still communicates the Briton. "He will send a message about anything; how the race went and keeping up to date with life. So, we are still in very good contact, absolutely.

"It is very important to acknowledge what Christian did for this team and the moments we lived through together," he added, "the first title in 2021, the rollercoaster of that year and emotions of the final race in Abu Dhabi. They are moments you will never forget."

Referring to 'the politics', he said: "The problem we had is that there was a lot of stuff that was going on. We were lost with the car and that didn't help in terms of keeping everything under control and quiet and people were leaving, too.

"But everything together with the change in team boss, plus suddenly understanding the car, by coincidence it just brought peace because people were then suddenly more confident again and that calmed things down."

Asked about speculation linking Horner with a return to the paddock, Verstappen said: "I wouldn't be surprised. I don't speak to Christian about that because I don't want to interfere.

"Maybe it was not good for us internally in the team," he added, "but for the F1 world, him against Toto or whoever, that was always enjoyable to see. Now everyone is too friendly!"

Talking of friendly, aware that the title is slipping out of reach, the Dutchman warns that "anything might happen" in today's race.

"It will be tough," he admitted. "In the Sprint I tried, but then we just fall into that window where we just struggle a lot on the tyres and we don't seem to really be able to keep up.

"Also, the few final laps of Oscar in that Sprint, I need to cut a corner to do that. It will be maybe a little bit better, but it will be tough to do that. Let's see. It's a long race. Anything can happen.

"With all these high-speed corners and high grip as well, it's just super tough to get close," he admitted. "Tomorrow, there's a lot more fuel in the car. The start, for sure, is important.

"You never know. It can also be influenced by other cars in the race that might ruin your own race. It's impossible to say now already that it's going to be boring tomorrow."

Zak Brown is another who believes the race will be far from "boring".

"For sure, you know he's going to try and lead into Turn 1," the American told F1 TV, referring to the four-time world champion, "so I wouldn't miss the start of tomorrow's Grand Prix.

"Our goal is to make sure papaya wins this championship," he added, "so if we can finish where we've started here and just have it be a two-horse race in Abu Dhabi, that's our goal. And if they want to reverse positions that's up to them, I don't care.

"It's business as usual," he insisted, "they know the rules. We love watching them race, they race each other hard, they race each other cleanly, so, they know if they can kind of check out that we'll be looking good in Abu Dhabi. But let's see, they've got to do that first."