Red Bull stance clear as Max Verstappen future depends on car performance

The Red Bull team principal has assured Max Verstappen will remain with the team next season – provided the team gives him a competitive car.

Verstappen openly started to question his Formula 1 future during the Japanese Grand Prix weekend, given his lack of enjoyment behind the wheel of the 2026 machinery – and is looking for sizeable changes to come into place in 2027.

Laurent Mekies links Max Verstappen future to Red Bull car performance

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The four-time World Champion again aired his grievances about the 2026 regulations at Suzuka, leading Verstappen to state that he will look to weigh up if he enjoys the commitment of a full race calendar when he does not enjoy what he is driving, when compared to his family life.

Mekies played down talk of a potential Verstappen retirement at the Japanese Grand Prix, and has expanded further to say that, if he does stay on, Red Bull needs to provide him with quick enough machinery to hold onto his services.

Verstappen is contracted with Red Bull through to the end of the 2028 season, but is understood to hold a performance-related clause in his contract that could see him able to talk to other teams, if he is not placed highly enough in the standings later in the season.

Asked directly on the Beyond the Grid podcast if he is worried about losing Verstappen on the driver market next season, Mekies replied: “You need to come to Milton Keynes to see, as we say, ‘the fire behind every door’, and you will soon realise why I’m smiling right now.

“Because we don’t think about our driver market in ’27, we think about getting a fast car. And if we get a fast car, there is no discussion about what Max is doing next year. And hence, we are focused on that.”

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Verstappen’s complaints about the 2026 cars stem from the lack of ability to push flat-out for long periods, with the 50-50 split in internal combustion and electrical power producing the need for drivers to lift-and-coast through a lap, or even see speed reduce at full throttle due to ‘super-clipping’, as charge from the battery empties and internal combustion takes over.

Talks are set to take place through April to look to address the early misgivings about the new ruleset, and when Mekies applies it to Verstappen in particular, the Red Bull team boss has backed the powers-that-be to make steps in the right direction.

Should that occur, retirement will not be on the table for the leading Red Bull driver.

“I have full confidence that, as a sport, we have the tools to tweak the regulations so that they are coming back closer to flat-out qualifying, whilst keeping all the positive aspects that we see from the racing we have seen the first couple of races,” he said.

“I think if we do that, I have every confidence that Max will keep seeing what we all see, is that you still have the best 22 drivers in the world there, you’ll have the fastest car on the planet and is the most competitive environment, and he’s ultimately a competitor.

“We are not having the retirement talk with Max right now. We are having the hardcore analysis of how to go faster with our car, and he’s passionate about the sport, and he wants to contribute to the sport and to make sure the sport lands in the right place. And hence, he’s vocal about the tweak he thinks we need to do.

“Again, as a driver, to make sure that he can be flat-out in qualifying and to make sure he can have good racing, and we’re not having retirement discussions.”

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