The rumor mill in Formula 1 bubbles tremendously after five season races. Right in the middle: world champion Max Verstappen, who is repeatedly associated with a change from Red Bull to Aston Martin or Mercedes for 2026. The recent statements by the Dutchman may have registered Red Bull fans with a certain relief.
Does Max Verstappen also drive for Red Bull Racing in the upcoming Formula 1 season? Or does he switch to Toto Wolff and Mercedes? Or to Aston Martin and Adrian Newey? Or does the serial champion even insert a sabbatical to only get in again in 2027?
The motorsport portals and magazines are full of speculative reports on the future of the Dutch.
An open secret is that Verstappen has anchored performance -related clauses in his contract, which is valid until 2028, that enables him to leave early. The existence of such an exit option has recently confirmed Bullen-Emerenz Helmut Marko in an interview with sport.de.
The question is when the passage on paper will be effective. In the paddock it is speculated that Verstappen can pull the exit clause if he is not among the top two in the driver’s World Cup until the summer break, he is currently third.
Verstappen himself is covered. “I just want to focus on my car and work with the people in the team. This is the only thing I think about in Formula 1 at the moment. I am very relaxed,” he said on the sidelines of the Saudi GP at “Sky”.
Verstappen: “You can’t always win everything”
In conversation with Dutch media, Verstappen also commented on the dozens of rumors and reports on his future. “People want to have something to write. This is all I can read from it,” said the 27-year-old. It was pretty normal that every driver wanted to sit in the fastest car.
“But that doesn’t mean that you should just run away if things don’t go quite like that for a while,” said Verstappen. Red Bull is working on solving the problems on the RB21, you can’t do more.
“You can scream and noise, but that won’t help either. I just try to give the best and it is absolutely possible that we sort out everything (the problems, d.Red.) In 2026. But you can’t always win everything,” said the four -time world champion.