“We assume Max will stay with us,” says Marko

“We have a valid contract,” insists Helmut Marko of Max Verstappen, as speculation continues.

For one so long in the tooth, it is somewhat surprising that Marko isn’t aware that contracts count for little, indeed he need look no further than the current championship leader and Alpine.

Then again, when he says we “assume” Max will remain with Red Bull he appears unaware of the old adage that to assume makes an ass of you (u) and me.

At a time the Austrian team is preparing for the Belgian Grand Prix, and its Dutch driver returns from a break in Sardinia, where he allegedly just happened to meet up with Toto Wolff, Marko says the four-time world champion is free to talk to whomever he wants but insists that he isn’t going anywhere.

“Max can meet with whoever he wants,” he tells OE24 in reaction to the Sardinia speculation. “We have a valid contract and we assume Max will stay with us,” he added.

In terms of Christian Horner’s sacking however, the Austrian wasn’t quite as forthcoming.

“Max was informed,” he said, “I don’t want to say anything more about that.”

Wolff continues to play it cool, and while understandably keen to have the Dutchman on board doesn’t want to risk unsettling his current line-up.

“When you look at the situation we have with Kimi and George, we have a perfect line-up that we very much enjoy and that we believe is the future,” he told Sky Sports at Silverstone. “But, at the same time, there is a four-time world champion that needs to decide what he is going to do in the future and that is just, as a team principal, you need to see where that is going.

“I think I give it a very little probability that it’s going to happen,” he added. “But you don’t know what’s going to be in three or five years, that’s why you need to look at what is it that should be considered on the long term.”