Max Verstappen ‘Keen on Mercedes Move’ and Could Scrap Red Bull Contract Early After Intense Talks
Sky Sports report that the reigning world champion is willing to free himself from his current Red Bull contract which runs until 2028.
Speculation about Verstappen’s future ramped up at the Austrian Grand Prix last weekend when George Russell told Sky Sports F1 that he has not been given a new Mercedes contract beyond 2025 due to the team having “ongoing conversations” with Verstappen.
The timing comes as Formula 1 prepares for significant regulation changes in 2026.
Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff confirmed there were “conversations behind closed doors” taking place, though he sought to downplay the immediacy of any potential deal.
“You make it sound like we have been asking ‘when do you want to join and what are the terms?’,” said Wolff. “That’s not how it is or how it works.”
The Mercedes board are reportedly unsure if signing Verstappen is necessary, given they could have the car to beat following the introduction of new regulations in 2026.
Sky Sports reports Verstappen has not indicated he wants to leave Red Bull early, nor has there been an official approach from Mercedes for the reigning F1 world champion.
However, Verstappen has a clause in his contract that will allow him to leave Red Bull after this season if he is not in the top four of the Drivers’ Championship at the start of the F1 summer break, which follows the Hungarian Grand Prix on August 3.
Verstappen is currently third in the standings, nine points ahead of Russell and 36 points in front of Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc with three rounds until the summer break.
Wolff revealed Mercedes are having chats with Verstappen, but confirmed George Russell will have a contract with the team next year.
Despite Russell and Verstappen’s tense relationship, including their recent collision at the Spanish Grand Prix, Wolff refused to rule out the possibility of pairing the rivals together at Mercedes.
“I can imagine every line-up. I had Rosberg and Hamilton fighting for a world championship, so everything else afterwards is easy,” Wolff said.
Red Bull principal Christian Horner suggested that Verstappen “gets quite annoyed” by the talk linking him to Mercedes, and claimed the Silver Arrows are battling their own issues.
“I think they’ve got their own problems,” Horner told media after the Austrian Grand Prix. “They were 62 seconds behind the race leader today. So Mercedes have got their own issues.”
“We’re just focused on ourselves. We know what the situation is with Max. We know what the contracts are with Max, and the rest is all noise that’s not coming from here.”
Wolff said he hopes to have his 2026 driver decision sorted by the end of Formula 1’s summer break, as uncertainty over Russell’s place at the team lingers.
“You need to be respectable towards the stakeholders in all of that process,” Wolff told media in Austria when asked about a deadline.
Russell’s contractual situation means he, rather than rookie team-mate Andrea Kimi Antonelli, would be most at risk for F1 2026 if Mercedes is successful in its pursuit of Verstappen.
Sky F1 pundit Karun Chandhok speculated that Mercedes might be pushing for a short-term deal for Russell to keep its options open for the F1 2027 season.
The last time that Formula 1 changed the engines was in 2014 and it marked the start of Mercedes’ eight consecutive Constructors’ title wins, creating intrigue over how the team will start out in F1 2026.
When asked on Thursday if he would be a Red Bull driver in 2026, Verstappen said: “It’s not really on my mind. Just driving well, trying to push the performance, and then we focus on next year.”
