Max Verstappen leaves Red Bull waiting after crucial future talks

Max Verstappen is yet to firmly indicate his commitment to Red Bull beyond this season, following a meeting with the team’s top brass.

The Dutch driver travelled to Austria during the week of the Barcelona Grand Prix, meeting with the shareholders as they sought a firm signal from the four-time F1 World Champion that he will stay with the team next season.

Max Verstappen yet to commit future to Red Bull

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• Max Verstappen has not committed his future to Red Bull.
• A contract escape clause could allow him to leave.
• Mercedes interest remains a major talking point.

While Verstappen has a contract with Red Bull until the end of the F1 2028 season, speculation about interest from other teams is mounting every year due to the Dutch driver’s power as a four-time F1 World Champion.

Verstappen has been a target for Mercedes’ Toto Wolff in recent seasons, and, with him having – as is the norm for driver contracts – escape clauses written in, there is always the potential that a well-timed offer could turn his head.

The clause in the Dutch driver’s contract is understood to relate to his standing in the Drivers’ Championship at a given point in the season, believed to be the Hungarian Grand Prix at the end of July, and sources have indicated to PlanetF1.com that Verstappen must be within the top two in the standings for him to not have the option to activate this clause if he so desires.

He currently occupies seventh place in the championship, 101 points off the lead, meaning that he is very likely able to activate his clause to leave Red Bull should he so wish.

The Dutch driver travelled to meet with Red Bull’s top brass in Austria last week before the Spanish Grand Prix, with such meetings with Red Bull GmbH taking place every couple of months.

Attendees at the Hangar 7 meeting included Mark Mateschitz and Oliver Mintzlaff, as well as an appearance by Chalerm Yoovidhya, who rarely leaves Dubai, with Red Bull said to have been seeking reassurances that Verstappen will remain committed to the team beyond this season, with the negotiations focusing on attempting to convince him to write out the escape clause from his contract.

However, it’s understood that Verstappen was unyielding on the escape clause detail and, on his future, has not yet given Red Bull commitment beyond this season; it’s a situation with which it’s said the shareholders are unhappy.

Indeed, sources have suggested that Verstappen is considering activating his escape clause this summer, although, when asked by PlanetF1.com what he wants to see from Red Bull in order to not do so this summer, the Dutchman declined to go into detail: “If there is anything new about what I’m doing, I will let you know.”

Of course, the existence of an escape clause and Verstappen’s unwillingness to reassure Red Bull’s shareholders doesn’t mean he is set to cut and run from the team, although it has been suggested the Dutch driver is weighing up his options and has already met with several of the other leading teams for exploratory talks.

However, PlanetF1.com understands that there has not been any recent contact between the Verstappen camp and Mercedes, or any other team, regarding the Dutch driver’s future. But if Verstappen does decide to activate his escape clause, he will effectively become a free agent on the driver market, which would likely change the complexion of any future discussions.

This year has represented something of a crossroads for the 28-year-old, who started the season expressing his dislike of the new F1 regulations and suggesting that his time in the sport could be curtailed by them.

However, with the regulations evolving to improve the situation, including changes in power unit ratios for the next two seasons, Verstappen has been placated and, while Red Bull itself does not currently seem competitive enough to fight for race victories and titles, the Dutch driver has spoken of his enjoyment of working with his team to improve the situation.

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While Red Bull Powertrains has hit the ground running as an engine manufacturer, with its internal combustion engine ranked the best on the grid by the FIA’s ADUO benchmarking, the RB22 has been sporadic in speed and performance, and Verstappen has just one podium to his name this year.

This has coincided with Mercedes being the team to beat to start the new regulation cycle, with George Russell and Kimi Antonelli winning all but one of the Grands Prix this season. While the power unit, as a whole, is regarded as the benchmark by its rivals, the W17 chassis also proved its mettle as Antonelli dominated the Monaco Grand Prix, the least power-sensitive circuit on the calendar.

It’s against the backdrop of this that Verstappen must mull over his future: does he remain loyal to Red Bull and stick with the Milton Keynes-based squad through a rebuild phase, knowing that the team does have work to do to close the gap? Or, if Wolff continues to beat down his door, does he make the jump to join Mercedes and enjoy what is likely to be more immediate success?

From speaking with sources aware of the driver market state-of-play, it’s said that there could be several dominoes set to fall into place depending on the choice made by Verstappen. It’s also worth remembering that, while Mercedes may have been extremely eager to secure Verstappen before, the urgency of convincing him is lessened this year as Antonelli has started to deliver upon his potential.

It’s George Russell’s position that is likely far more under scrutiny, given the existence of performance-related clauses pertaining to his continuation beyond this season. Russell has had his fair share of bad luck this year, but the British driver has not convincingly had the legs on his much less experienced teammate.

But, given that Antonelli is producing wins and controlling the championship convincingly at this point, does Mercedes really need Verstappen as badly as might have been the case even a year ago?

Speculation has emerged this week that Mercedes has made an offer to Verstappen, with Ralf Schumacher suggesting that the finances being discussed had taken this new dynamic in mind.

“At Mercedes, we hear that Toto Wolff made him an offer, behind the scenes,” Schumacher said.

“But the offer was apparently so bad, financially speaking, that it’s completely out of the question. It doesn’t matter.

“But I think that’s intentional because, again, I’ve said it before: why would Toto Wolff, if everything goes as planned, bring in an expensive Max Verstappen alongside Kimi Antonelli, the future superstar?”

But this allegation from Schumacher, who has proven inconsistent in terms of offering reliable behind-the-scenes information, was quickly dismissed by Verstappen’s father, Jos.

“Ralf, again, you bring wrong information,” Verstappen senior wrote on Instagram.

With Red Bull eager to shore up its bank of talent around Verstappen, as it has done so for the last decade, it appears the four-time F1 World Champion is prepared to make his employers sweat; perhaps in a bid to ensure there is no complacency about keeping the man who has long spoken about wanting to remain loyal to the squad.

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