{"id":842197,"date":"2026-08-03T16:46:11","date_gmt":"2026-08-03T16:46:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/842197\/"},"modified":"2026-08-03T16:46:11","modified_gmt":"2026-08-03T16:46:11","slug":"f1-legends-weigh-in-on-max-verstappens-red-bull-future","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/842197\/","title":{"rendered":"F1 legends weigh in on Max Verstappen’s Red Bull future"},"content":{"rendered":"

Max Verstappen’s future at Red Bull remains a popular topic as the Dutchman heads into the summer break sixth in the drivers’ standings, 110 points behind championship leader Kimi Antonelli.<\/p>\n

With Red Bull dealing with the added challenge of its new engine programme this season, and some high-profile exits over recent years, a panel of Formula 1 legends has weighed in on whether they believe the four-time champion will stay at the Milton Keynes outfit or seek an exit.\u00a0<\/p>\n

While the 28-year-old has been linked with potential moves to Mercedes<\/a> and McLaren<\/a>, he has remained tight-lipped about his future. It is understood that he is now able to activate an exit clause in his contract if he chooses to, as he sits outside the top two in the drivers’ championship.<\/p>\n

Former McLaren driver Juan Pablo Montoya firmly believes Verstappen’s recent team radio frustrations are a tactic to put pressure on the team, rather than evidence that he will leave. “I don\u2019t think Max wants to leave Red Bull. You\u2019re in one of the best F1 teams, probably the best team in the last 20 years, with Mercedes,” he told F1.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n

“You\u2019re in the right place. Yes, it\u2019s changed because a lot of people have left, but they\u2019re still performing. Last year, they nearly came back and won the championship. I think he wants to see that from the team, and it\u2019s just about putting pressure on them.”<\/p>\n

Two-time champion Emerson Fittipaldi hopes that Verstappen will choose to stay at Red Bull, but argued that if he did decide to leave, it would cause chaos in the driver market.<\/p>\n

“It\u2019s always difficult to give an opinion on what\u2019s going on. I don\u2019t know his relationship. I don\u2019t know what they are doing for next year. Max is an incredible talent,” the Brazilian explained.<\/p>\n

“He carries his car on his back. I think he has a big loyalty to the team, and I like that. I always liked to run many years on a team, as much as I could go. I think he has this loyalty.<\/p>\n

\"Max <\/p>\n

Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing<\/p>\n

Photo by: Andy Hone\/ LAT Images via Getty Images<\/p>\n

“But possibly, he can leave. If that happened, it would be musical chairs. It\u2019s going to move everybody. I think this part of F1 is exciting. The fans, ‘Who\u2019s going to be [there]? Where are they going?’ It\u2019s part of the sport.”<\/p>\n

For former Ferrari<\/a> driver Stefan Johansson, Verstappen’s frustration is justified. “I can understand the frustration. If you don\u2019t have the car, you\u2019re not going to win,” he said. “There\u2019s never been a world champion that didn\u2019t have the best car.<\/p>\n

“That\u2019s the reality of it. He\u2019s still creating miracles most of the time, and he\u2019s still unbelievably good, obviously. I\u2019m sure there’s no shortage of options [for him]! I think every team would give their right arm to have him in the car.”<\/p>\n

Gerhard Berger<\/a> urged Verstappen to be patient with Red Bull as it works through the bumps in the power unit project, predicting that the team will be very competitive again in six to 12 months.<\/p>\n

“I\u2019m a fan of Max. I think he\u2019s an outstanding driver,” Berger explained. “When I look and see Red Bull, they built a brand-new engine. Yes, they got people from other companies, but to compete with the experience of Mercedes or Ferrari, and being competitive already in the first year of doing your own engine, it\u2019s actually quite impressive.<\/p>\n

“That they have some reliability failures at the moment, it\u2019s not nice, especially when it\u2019s wings, but the others also have reliability issues. I think if Max continues to work quietly with the team, and they get some more good people on board, I would say in six to 12 months, I see them again being very, very competitive.”<\/p>\n

Three-time grand\u00a0prix winner Thierry Boutsen questioned how long his success would last at another team if he did decide to leave. “It\u2019s very difficult to say. It\u2019s maybe a good moment to move, but maybe it\u2019s a bad moment to move. It\u2019s his decision, how he feels,” he said.<\/p>\n

“The way you feel inside the team is very important. Moving to a new team, for sure, he will feel good, he will have the support of the team. But how long is that going to last? Is that going to last as long as it lasted with Red Bull? I don\u2019t know.<\/p>\n

“I cannot advise him \u2013 he does what he wants to do. I\u2019d like to see what he does. It will be very interesting for himself, for the rest of F1, and for the rest of the world, I would say. He\u2019s always been in a good position there, and he\u2019s been winning races. He almost won the championship last year, and if he didn\u2019t have the problems in Austria and Britain [this season], it would look much different. So, he\u2019s not far off.”<\/p>\n

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– The Motorsport.com Team<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Max Verstappen’s future at Red Bull remains a popular topic as the Dutchman heads into the summer break…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":842198,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[573],"tags":[64,63,817,414253,813,816,31948,405277,825,946,85,1511],"class_list":["post-842197","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-formula-1","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-f1","tag-f1-legends-weigh-in-on-max-verstappens-red-bull-future","tag-formula-1","tag-formula1","tag-hungaroring","tag-hungaroring-pirelli-test","tag-max-verstappen","tag-red-bull-racing","tag-sports","tag-trendingteam"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/842197","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=842197"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/842197\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/842198"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=842197"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=842197"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=842197"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}