Verstappen was joined by a swathe of reporters at Spa-Francorchamps as he took in his media duties ahead of the Belgian Grand Prix, with the four-time World Champion asked about the circumstances under which he found out about Horner’s exit.

Red Bull start life after Christian Horner with sprint win for Max Verstappen - Horner left the team earlier this month but his replacement, Laurent Mekies, has his first victory

Max Verstappen finished Sprint Qualifying in second place. The internet is, however, concerned about the gap to Oscar Piastri, who also defeated teammate Lando Norris by a significant margin. Verstappen himself stated after Sprint qualifying that second place was a good result.