Inside Red Bull’s fight to keep hold of Max Verstappen

One of the defining stories of this Formula 1 season so far has been speculation over Max Verstappen quitting the sport. This extract from The Observer’s Formula 1 writer Matt Majendie’s new book, Inside Red Bull Racing, written during last season’s campaign, shows that the journey of how Verstappen got to this point shouldn’t be so surprising.

Since Max Verstappen made his debut for Scuderia Toro Rosso in 2015, his F1 career has been entirely in the bosom of the Red Bull family. It has echoes of Lewis Hamilton, who was essentially a one-brand man with Mercedes before his shock move to Ferrari.

Amid the chaos and controversy within Red Bull last season, Verstappen’s head was turned and his camp began to hold talks at rival teams. Mercedes’ Toto Wolff made no secret of his desire to snap up the star driver, much to Christian Horner’s irritation. In the end, such talks came to nothing but the whispers linking Verstappen to Mercedes have never entirely gone away. In Austria at Red Bull’s home race and eponymous track, the rumours spark back into life yet again, surprisingly from Mercedes driver George Russell.

Frustrated at his team’s inability to agree terms over a new deal, despite being one of the form drivers early in 2025, in a revealing interview with Sky Sports he lays bare the reality of his and Verstappen’s situation. “As Mercedes, they want to be back on top and, if you’re going to be back on top you need to make sure you’ve got the best drivers, the best engineers, the best pit crew, and that’s what Mercedes are chasing. So, it’s only normal that conversations with the likes of Verstappen are ongoing. I feel with the performance I’m showing at the moment I’ve got zero reasons to be worried.”

And yet by speaking, he is showing genuine concern over a threat to his future. If Mercedes sign Verstappen, what does that mean for Russell? It’s no secret there’s no love lost between the pair and Wolff knows that it is either Verstappen or Russell, not both. Already this season there have been on-track incidents between the two – notably in Spain and Canada – and there has been plenty prior to that.

This fractious relationship began back in 2022 when Verstappen accused Russell of being overly aggressive in overtaking at the Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix, but it then erupted in Azerbaijan the following year when they collided on lap one of the race. A tetchy exchange followed in the pit lane afterwards, Verstappen calling Russell a “princess” and the Briton countering his rival had completely lost his head. Then there was Qatar that same season when Verstappen said he had “lost all respect” for Russell after being penalised for impeding him in qualifying.

There is also the back story of last season, the infighting between Horner, Jos Verstappen and Helmut Marko (an adviser to Red Bull), and Verstappen Jnr’s very clear dislike of all that, wishing for greater harmony between those around him. With Red Bull’s form on track wobbling for parts of last season too despite Verstappen winning the drivers’ title, it makes sense that he would look at where his best options are. As his manager Raymond Vermeulen puts it: “Max is very respectful of the people. Red Bull was there from day one, they put him in the car, they made the effort. They treated him very well to enter Formula 1, so yes, we are loyal. But on the other hand, I also told management we have the quickest driver in the paddock and I want to have the quickest material for that, so it seems to be that we’re still in the front but it is a very competitive world.” 

Then there is the matter of Verstappen’s contract, which contains the clause stating that if Verstappen is outside the top three in the drivers’ championship going into the summer break after the Hungarian Grand Prix, he can head elsewhere. At the start of the Austrian Grand Prix weekend, Russell is only 19 points away from usurping Verstappen’s place in the top three. By the end of the weekend, that will be down to nine when Verstappen is speared into unknowingly by Mercedes’ Kimi Antonelli on the opening lap.

The Verstappen camp potentially has a decision to make. So seismic are the regulation changes, no one really knows who will begin next season on top, let alone win the championship. Verstappen’s team have to weigh up whether to take the plunge or decide if it is more sensible to see how the new regulations pan out. In so doing he can revisit his options for 2027, be that staying at Red Bull, if their first ever in-house power unit can be successful, switching to rivals Mercedes or else another team on the grid.

Speaking to a huddle of reporters crammed inside the Energy Station at the Austrian Grand Prix, he says: “I think I’ve said this before. Naturally, of course, people are talking but it’s most important that we have a very competitive car for the future. At the moment, it is very tight but we are working very well as a team to try and improve. For sure, I said this already with the team, we are working and focusing also on next year to try and be competitive again. I’ve got a long contract with the team, I’m very happy where I’m at and, like I said before, we are focusing already on next year with the things that we can implement on the car. So, I guess that should say enough of where I’m driving next year.”

When asked for a direct yes or no on whether he would be at Red Bull in 2026, he says: “You couldn’t get that out of my answer before? I mean, OK, yes. But that’s what I said, we are already also working on next year’s car. I think when you are very focused on that, that means you are also driving for the team.”

Wolff is also cagey. He says: “We are going into territory that I don’t want to discuss out here, but people talk, people explore. And most important is that in our organisation we are transparent, but it doesn’t change a millimetre of my opinion of George, his abilities or anything else.”

At the following race a week later in Silverstone, the rumours of a big-money cross-grid switch haven’t gone away. Clearly bristling, Verstappen refuses to answer any questions about 2026. It does little to dampen the whispers. 

The rumour mill goes further into overdrive when he is spotted with Wolff on their yachts in Sardinia, parked up side by side. It leads to the suggestion that further talks over a big-money deal have taken place on the Mediterranean island between the pair. By the time the next race in Belgium comes around, Verstappen laughs it off: “I don’t really care about those things because I went on holiday with my friends, my family. And when other people also are there at the same time, that can happen. I mean there are more people on the island than just me and Toto and the family. If you go to the same island, that can happen.” 

The uncertainty also piles the pressure on Horner as team principal. If he can’t hold on to his star driver, is he the right man to steady the ship? His public messaging is he is confident Verstappen will stay put and yet, in turn, he opens his own talks with Russell about the potential for a mouth-watering crossover.

Inside Red Bull Racing: A Season with F1’s Most Thrilling Team by Matt Majendie, published by Blink Publishing, is out Thursday 21 May

Photograph by Andrej Isakovic / AFP / Getty Images