Christian Horner holds crunch talks with Max Verstappen’s manager in Dubai

Underfire Red Bull boss Christian Horner has held talks with Max Verstappen’s manager - Raymond Vermeulen - as they look to resolve any off-track tension ahead of this weekend’s Saudi Arabian Grand Prix.

According to the Press Association, a meeting took place between Horner and Vermeulen - who was present on behalf of Verstappen - in Dubai.

They understand that neither Max or Jos Verstappen were present at the meeting, which “went well” according to PA.

While Verstappen dominated the season-opening Bahrain Grand Prix, backed up by teammate Sergio Perez in second, Red Bull have dominated the media headlines for things outside the race track.

Ahead of the first race, Horner was cleared of any wrongdoing following an independent investigation into allegations of inappropriate conduct.

However, the saga didn’t stop there as accredited F1 media and senior officials were sent alleged evidence from the investigation - text messages, images and videos - from an anonymous email account.

The validity of the evidence is still in question and Horner has refused to directly comment on it.

Things escalated for Red Bull after the race after Jos Verstappen was fairly critical of Horner, stating that the ongoing saga could tear the team apart.

Verstappen has also been linked with a remarkable move to Mercedes as a possible replacement for Lewis Hamilton, putting even more pressure on Horner and Red Bull.

Red Bull’s star driver has continued to back Horner, publicly at least.

He said in Bahrain: “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, of course, 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.”