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Max Verstappen has given qualified support to Christian Horner as Red Bull team boss after setting pole position for the Bahrain Grand Prix.

Horner has again denied allegations of inappropriate behaviour after a series of alleged messages were leaked.

Verstappen was asked whether he had full faith in Horner's leadership of Red Bull.

He said: "From the performance side of things, you can't even question that. So that's what I'm also dealing with."

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Verstappen was questioned on the matter on Friday in Bahrain, after beating Ferrari's Charles Leclerc to pole - a day after an anonymous email with a link to messages purporting to involve Horner was sent to Formula 1 personnel and media.

A drive of messages was on a link in the email, which was sent to 149 people involved in the sport, mainly senior figures and permanently accredited media.

After the messages emerged, Horner said in a statement: "I won't comment on anonymous speculation. But, to reiterate, I have always denied the allegations."

F1 president Stefano Domenicali and FIA president Mohammed Ben Sulayem met on Friday in Bahrain to discuss the matter.

Verstappen was first asked whether he was confident Horner remained the right person to lead Red Bull Racing.

He said: "From my side, and I think what I can see also from the mechanics and the engineers, we are fully focused on the car and the performance here during the weekend.

"And that's how it should be, I think, and that's what we continue to do, because it's not our business. We're not particularly involved in that.

"And we are here, we are paid to do our job, and that's what we are doing and that's also what we love doing. So that's what we focus on."

Asked to clarify whether he had full faith in Horner's leadership, the 26-year-old said: "Listen, when I look at how Christian operates within the team, he has been an incredible team boss. So absolutely, from the performance side of things, you can't even question that. So that's what I'm also dealing with.

"I speak to Christian a lot, and also throughout the weekend here. He's fully committed to the team. He's also here for the performance. Of course probably a little bit distracted. But like I said before, we just focus on the performance side of things and that's how we all work together."

 

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