Max Verstappen threatens to QUIT Red Bull's F1 team if his

Max Verstappen has threatened to quit Red Bull if his mentor Helmut Marko is forced out in the scandal that has engulfed Formula One.

The world championship-winning team looks more riven than ever with Marko, the company’s motorsport adviser, facing possible disciplinary action in yet another investigation.

Marko told Austrian broadcaster ORF that there was a chance he wouldn’t be at the next race in Australia on March 24.

The 80-year-old said cryptically that there is even a ‘possibility’ he will be suspended on Monday. Another rumour has him being sacked.

It is understood the latest commotion relates to accusations he leaked incriminating evidence against team principal Christian Horner, who was cleared of coercive behaviour towards a female colleague.

The woman who made the complaint was suspended earlier this week.

But Verstappen, Red Bull’s chief asset, will not stand for Marko going – increasing the prospect of his moving to Mercedes. The triple world champion said: ‘If such an important pillar falls away, it is not good for my situation and I have told the team that. He is an important part in my decision-making for the future.

‘For me, Helmut has to stay. I have a lot of respect for him, and what we have achieved together. It goes very far.

‘He built this team with Dietrich (Mateschitz, the energy drink company’s late founder).’

Again, Verstappen did not reference Horner, who was last week hit by leaked WhatsApp messages supposedly revealing sexually suggestive exchanges with his female colleague.