Max Verstappen confirmed he will race Red Bull in 2026, saying he could leave at the end of the season, “It’s basically time to stop all the rumours.”
The defending champion has been linked to the move to Mercedes and has been in discussion with Toto Wolf to understand potential future options, but is signed with Red Bull until 2028.
“It’s very interesting to follow the whole (rumors) and the amount of lovely stories that came out of it,” Verstappen said. “But for me, I’ve never said anything about it because I was focused on telling the team how we could improve our performance and what ideas we could do next year, so I really had nothing to add.
“But I think it’s time to basically stop all the rumours, and for me it’s always clear that they’re staying anyway.
“I think that was also a general feeling for the team, because we were constantly debating what we could do with the car, and when you’re not interested in staying, you stop talking about these kinds of things, and I never did.”
Given that his contract will run until 2028, Verstappen said he is not sure if he will need to check his future each year, but will not discuss performance-related clauses.
“If you ask that question next year, yes, I have that guess!” he said. “But for me, I’m not going to talk about it because I’m more interested in working on the performance of things. So I never talk about what’s in the contract either.”
A confirmation from Verstappen that he will compete for Red Bull next season comes shortly after Laurent Mekie replaced Christian Horner as team principal, with the four-time world champion saying the Mekies will offer opportunities for change in directions that could show results in future years.
“Absolutely, that’s always the case,” he said. “Of course, it’s still a very early age, but I like how Laurent works. He’s very motivated, not only is he asking me the right questions and I’m constantly asking the team.
“It’s very difficult to see any kind of profit this year, but I hope that next year, two years will really see him touching the team. I’m very excited about it.”
Verstappen hopes his comments will help him focus on trying to find more performance in his current car with the goal of learning that Red Bull can benefit his team in the future.
“No one really knows where they are next year,” he said. “And realistically for us this year, of course, it will be very difficult to fight McLaren. Ferrari and Mercedes are already difficult.
“But there are still many opportunities to learn more about cars and cars’ behaviour. I know that cars will be different next year, so there’s still something I can take from this year and implement next year.”