{"id":743804,"date":"2026-06-18T05:24:11","date_gmt":"2026-06-18T05:24:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/743804\/"},"modified":"2026-06-18T05:24:11","modified_gmt":"2026-06-18T05:24:11","slug":"f1-news-max-verstappen-makes-decision-on-mercedes-offer-claims-insider","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/743804\/","title":{"rendered":"F1 News: Max Verstappen makes decision on ‘Mercedes offer’ claims insider"},"content":{"rendered":"

Max Verstappen<\/a> has reportedly turned down Mercedes<\/a>\u2019 initial approach to leave Red Bull after being left bewildered at the team’s opening offer. <\/p>\n

\nOver the years, Toto Wolff<\/a> had shown interest in signing the four-time world champion, but, according to former F1 star Ralf Schumacher, his attitude has since changed. <\/p>\n

\nLast week, Verstappen was reported to have travelled to Austria for talks with Red Bull\u2019s management<\/a>. <\/p>\n

Article continues under video<\/p>\n

\nThe Dutch driver insisted there was nothing new to announce, adding that he would be the one breaking any news if something did come up. <\/p>\n

\nDe Telegraaf noted that the energy drink company was eager to hear that Verstappen would continue racing under its banner in the coming years, claiming it was a prospect he deliberately avoided discussing. <\/p>\n

\nAlthough Verstappen is contracted with Red Bull until 2028, he could leave if he is placed outside the championship\u2019s top two during the summer break, though that doesn\u2019t necessarily mean he plans to. <\/p>\n

\nF1 HEADLINES: Christian Horner prepares bid, Mercedes worry<\/a> <\/p>\n

Mercedes ‘low ball Verstappen’<\/p>\n

\nMercedes was reportedly aware of this situation as well. Speaking on the Backstage Boxengasse<\/a> podcast, Schumacher revealed that while there were whispers about Toto Wolff making a backroom offer, the proposal was never serious due to the low offer for Verstappen. <\/p>\n

\nHowever, Verstappen’s dad, former F1 star Jos Verstappen, hit back at Schumacher’s claims calling them untrue. He said on Instagram: “Ralf, again you bring wrong information.” <\/p>\n

Avoiding Rosberg-Hamilton rivalry repeat<\/p>\n

\nSchumacher believes Wolff\u2019s decision was partly aimed at steering clear of a scenario reminiscent of the past clash between Lewis Hamilton<\/a> and Nico Rosberg at Mercedes. <\/p>\n

\n“I think it was done on purpose,\u201d he explained. \u201cWhy bring in an expensive driver like Max Verstappen alongside Kimi Antonelli, who is already seen as the team\u2019s rising star? <\/p>\n

\n“That would pit two top drivers against each other and Wolff knows all too well from the Hamilton-Rosberg days how problematic that can be.\u201d <\/p>\n

\nFurthermore, Schumacher suggested that Verstappen might only stand in the way of the young prodigy Antonelli\u2019s development. <\/p>\n

\n\u201cYou don\u2019t want to create that kind of situation,” he added. “It could jeopardise Kimi Antonelli\u2019s progress and position within the team. From Mercedes\u2019 perspective, it just doesn\u2019t make sense.\u201d <\/p>\n

\nREAD MORE: Toto Wolff makes cheeky Kim Kardashian joke<\/a><\/p>\n

Related\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Max Verstappen has reportedly turned down Mercedes\u2019 initial approach to leave Red Bull after being left bewildered at…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":743805,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[573],"tags":[64,63,65045,817,813,816,825,44,918,85],"class_list":["post-743804","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-formula-1","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-dan-ripley","tag-f1","tag-formula-1","tag-formula1","tag-max-verstappen","tag-news","tag-red-bull","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/743804","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=743804"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/743804\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/743805"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=743804"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=743804"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=743804"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}