Max Verstappen was closer to quitting Formula 1 than attempting to muscle his way into McLaren before signing a new contract to stick with Red Bull Racing until 2030.
Verstappen and Red Bull Racing announced a new contract ahead of this weekend’s final Dutch Grand Prix to keep one of Formula 1’s most successful partnerships alive for another four years.
The Dutchman had originally been contracted to the end of 2028, but a widely reported exit clause in his contract was activated this year when he finished the first half of the season outside the top two in the championship.
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Rumours of talks with rival teams have been rife for more than a year, with Mercedes the focus of attention last season and McLaren at the centre of the speculation in 2026.
McLaren CEO Zak Brown and Verstappen’s manager, Raymond Vermeulen, admitted to talking, and though both denied any negotiations took place, speculation about the four-time champion replacing Oscar Piastri at the team ran rife online, including a deal could be stitched up before the mid-season break.
Sources close to Piastri dismissed the prospect as “purely speculative” to Fox Sports, and manager Mark Webber called the rumours “nonsense” and “fiction”.
Speaking in the Dutch Grand Prix paddock after announcing his fresh deal, Verstappen said he never contemplated changing teams.
“I never felt that desire or need also to change [to another team] to try and win somewhere else,” he said, per ESPN. “If I feel well within the team here, why should I?
“I know that they do everything for me, and they know that I do everything for them once I’m on the track and trying to get the results.”
Asked specifically if he’d spoken to any of his rivals, Verstappen laughed that he was “closer to retiring than changing teams”.
“I have to say, after the first few races [of 2026] I said to Laurent [Mekies, Red Bull Racing principal], ‘Don’t come to me with any kind of questions about the future’ because I didn’t even know if I wanted to stay in F1. We always kept it very open.”
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Verstappen had publicly contemplated quitting Formula 1 early in the season as the full effects of the 2026 engine changes became clear.
The new and more heavily hybridised power units are disliked by virtually every driver, but Verstappen has been their most vociferous critic, describing them as “anti-racing” for the need to constantly charge the battery, which has neutered some of the sport’s best corners.
Speaking after the Japanese Grand Prix at driver-favourite Suzuka, Verstappen told the BBC he was seriously considering walking away.
“You just think about: is it worth it, or do I enjoy being more at home with my family [or] seeing my friends more when you’re not enjoying your sport?” he said.
“It’s not nice, the way you have to race. It’s really anti-driving. Then at one point it’s just not what I want to do.”
His criticism of the new rules surely played a role in spurring the sport to make changes, with tweaks applied this season and more substantial changes to be made over the next two years, when the balance between petrol and electrical power will move from nominally 50-50 this season to 60-40 in 2028.
The FIA has also said it wants to return Formula 1 to V8 engines with significantly less electrical power in either 2030 and 2031.
Verstappen’s new deal will see him racing until at least the end of 2030, which would likely take him into or to the cusp of the new regulatory era.
The four-time champion said the acceptance of the paddock of the need for change had played a role in convincing him to stay, and he admitted he had got used to the current compromised engines.
“I love racing, and I think I had a lot of very good discussions with F1 but also with the FIA, and I think we are slowly working towards something that becomes better and better,” he said.
“Also from my side, of course, I accepted the situation that I think we’re all in and just trying to make the best of that.
“I think also with the year that I signed to it again opens up the door maybe when potentially the V8s come in to look at that again as well.”
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‘A DEMONSTRATION OF TRUST’
Verstappen has been backed by Red Bull for his entire Formula 1 career, debuting with Toro Rosso in 2015 and then switching to Red Bull Racing in early 2016.
He won on debut for the senior team in Spain, the first of 71 career victories to date — the third most in Formula 1 history — delivering him four world titles.
Red Bull Racing chief Mekies hailed Verstappen’s decision to continue in Formula 1 as crucial to the team’s success given his centrality to its plans.
“It’s phenomenal news, certainly for Red Bull Racing, I dare to say for Formula 1 and perhaps even, more globally, for the sport,” he said, per Racer.
“What a demonstration of trust Max has put in the team by making this decision.
“We don’t take it lightly. With that trust comes a huge amount of responsibility in living up to being able to give him the best package for the years to come.
“But certainly if one thinks about the role Max has in the team, it is much more than the driver.
“We have been saying it many times — he is the central point of the team, he is the one we always refer to for all the strategic decisions we are making, and to know that he’s going to be with us in order to build that next winning cycle is phenomenal.
“If one thinks to what are the pillars you need to have in order to open that winning cycle again, certainly the driver side is done now.
“We have said many, many times that we trust we have the best talents in Milton Keynes, and that’s the second pillar.
“Certainly the third pillar is the number of strategic decisions that have been made that we trust will give us a competitive advantage.”
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Speculation around Verstappen’s decision-making focused on the swingeing changes to the team in recent seasons.
The death of Red Bull founder Dietrich Mateschitz set off an internal political battle for control of the team that eventually consumed many of the original key staff, several of whom have quit or been dismissed over the last four years.
Two key exits — former motorsport adviser Helmut Marko, who had been integral to getting Verstappen his debut, and race engineer Gianpiero Lambiase, who will join McLaren by 2028 — were hypothesised to be key to Verstappen’s uncertainty.
Legendary designer Adrian Newey, who led the technical team in every one of Verstappen’s title-winning years, has also since defected to Aston Martin.
But Verstappen said the team still felt right for him, and he backed new staff to continue Red Bull Racing’s winning history.
“Yes, people have left, but at the same time you’re looking at new talent and bringing other people in, and that’s what we’re doing,” he continued.
“Time will tell how successful we would be, but that’s the same for everyone, because no-one can promise that they are going to win next year or the year after, so I do have to believe that with the people here we can [win], and now we just have to work for it.
“You need to feel good where you are at. If you are in the fastest car but you don’t feel well, I don’t think that’s going to last very long.
“I feel very good in this team, I have the belief in the people that we can get back to the top, and time will tell. That’s what we are targeting.”
Verstappen has long suggested that he’s in Formula 1 for a good time, not a long time, and that he won’t cling to a place in the sport just to chase records.
Another extension with Red Bull Racing keeps alive the prospect the Dutchman will retire as effectively a one-brand driver, which Verstappen said has always been his goal so long as the team could continue being relatively competitive.
“I’ve always said — and I said this when Dietrich was still alive — my goal and target is to finish my career in this team, and I think we are getting close to that.
“Of course there are still a lot of years ahead, but that’s still the target.
“That’s why I’m very proud to extend and try to get back to the top. We have tasted a lot of being on top; that’s why I think we are very hungry to try and get there again.
“I like it here. I think it would be a great story if that would be possible — being picked up by Red Bull and finishing your career within one team — because like I said before, I don’t feel the need to change just to change, and I don’t necessarily need to drive in another colour.
“My favourite colour is blue, so that helps, but it would be an amazing story if that would happen.”
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