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.<\/p>\n
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Fox Sports, available on Kayo Sports, is the only place to watch every practice, qualifying session and race in the 2026 FIA Formula One World Championship\u2122 LIVE in 4K. New to Kayo? Join now and get your first month for just $1.<\/a><\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n McLaren CEO Zak Brown and Verstappen\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n Sources close to Piastri dismissed the prospect as \u201cpurely speculative\u201d to Fox Sports<\/a>, and manager Mark Webber called the rumours \u201cnonsense\u201d and \u201cfiction\u201d<\/a>.<\/p>\n Speaking in the Dutch Grand Prix paddock after announcing his fresh deal, Verstappen said he never contemplated changing teams.<\/p>\n \u201cI never felt that desire or need also to change [to another team] to try and win somewhere else,\u201d he said, per ESPN. \u201cIf I feel well within the team here, why should I?<\/p>\n \u201cI know that they do everything for me, and they know that I do everything for them once I\u2019m on the track and trying to get the results.\u201d<\/p>\n Asked specifically if he\u2019d spoken to any of his rivals, Verstappen laughed that he was \u201ccloser to retiring than changing teams\u201d.<\/p>\n \u201cI have to say, after the first few races [of 2026] I said to Laurent [Mekies, Red Bull Racing principal], \u2018Don\u2019t come to me with any kind of questions about the future\u2019 because I didn\u2019t even know if I wanted to stay in F1. We always kept it very open.\u201d<\/p>\n Can Piastri claw back ground on Norris? | 02:30<\/p>\n Verstappen had publicly contemplated quitting Formula 1 early in the season as the full effects of the 2026 engine changes became clear.<\/p>\n The new and more heavily hybridised power units are disliked by virtually every driver, but Verstappen has been their most vociferous critic<\/a>, describing them as \u201canti-racing\u201d for the need to constantly charge the battery, which has neutered some of the sport\u2019s best corners.<\/p>\n Speaking after the Japanese Grand Prix at driver-favourite Suzuka, Verstappen told the BBC he was seriously considering walking away<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cYou 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\u2019re not enjoying your sport?\u201d he said.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s not nice, the way you have to race. It\u2019s really anti-driving. Then at one point it\u2019s just not what I want to do.\u201d<\/p>\n 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<\/a>, when the balance between petrol and electrical power will move from nominally 50-50 this season to 60-40 in 2028.<\/p>\n The FIA has also said it wants to return Formula 1 to V8 engines<\/a> with significantly less electrical power<\/a> in either 2030 and 2031.<\/p>\n Verstappen\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n \u201cI 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,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n \u201cAlso from my side, of course, I accepted the situation that I think we\u2019re all in and just trying to make the best of that.<\/p>\n \u201cI 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.\u201d<\/p>\n Piastri’s proposed exit a costly one | 02:21<\/p>\n \u2018A DEMONSTRATION OF TRUST\u2019<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n He won on debut for the senior team in Spain, the first of 71 career victories to date \u2014 the third most in Formula 1 history \u2014 delivering him four world titles.<\/p>\n Red Bull Racing chief Mekies hailed Verstappen\u2019s decision to continue in Formula 1 as crucial to the team\u2019s success given his centrality to its plans.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s phenomenal news, certainly for Red Bull Racing, I dare to say for Formula 1 and perhaps even, more globally, for the sport,\u201d he said, per Racer.<\/p>\n \u201cWhat a demonstration of trust Max has put in the team by making this decision.<\/p>\n \u201cWe don\u2019t 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.<\/p>\n \u201cBut certainly if one thinks about the role Max has in the team, it is much more than the driver.<\/p>\n \u201cWe have been saying it many times \u2014 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\u2019s going to be with us in order to build that next winning cycle is phenomenal.<\/p>\n \u201cIf 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.<\/p>\n \u201cWe have said many, many times that we trust we have the best talents in Milton Keynes, and that\u2019s the second pillar.<\/p>\n \u201cCertainly the third pillar is the number of strategic decisions that have been made that we trust will give us a competitive advantage.\u201d<\/p>\n Will Piastri close the gap to Lando? | 11:04<\/p>\n Speculation around Verstappen\u2019s decision-making focused on the swingeing changes to the team in recent seasons.<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n Two key exits \u2014 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 \u2014 were hypothesised to be key to Verstappen\u2019s uncertainty.<\/p>\n Legendary designer Adrian Newey, who led the technical team in every one of Verstappen\u2019s title-winning years, has also since defected to Aston Martin.<\/p>\n But Verstappen said the team still felt right for him, and he backed new staff to continue Red Bull Racing\u2019s winning history.<\/p>\n \u201cYes, people have left, but at the same time you\u2019re looking at new talent and bringing other people in, and that\u2019s what we\u2019re doing,\u201d he continued.<\/p>\n \u201cTime will tell how successful we would be, but that\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n \u201cYou need to feel good where you are at. If you are in the fastest car but you don\u2019t feel well, I don\u2019t think that\u2019s going to last very long.<\/p>\n \u201cI 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\u2019s what we are targeting.\u201d<\/p>\n Verstappen has long suggested that he\u2019s in Formula 1 for a good time, not a long time, and that he won\u2019t cling to a place in the sport just to chase records.<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019ve always said \u2014 and I said this when Dietrich was still alive \u2014 my goal and target is to finish my career in this team, and I think we are getting close to that.<\/p>\n \u201cOf course there are still a lot of years ahead, but that\u2019s still the target.<\/p>\n \u201cThat\u2019s why I\u2019m very proud to extend and try to get back to the top. We have tasted a lot of being on top; that\u2019s why I think we are very hungry to try and get there again.<\/p>\n \u201cI like it here. I think it would be a great story if that would be possible \u2014 being picked up by Red Bull and finishing your career within one team \u2014 because like I said before, I don\u2019t feel the need to change just to change, and I don\u2019t necessarily need to drive in another colour.<\/p>\n \u201cMy favourite colour is blue, so that helps, but it would be an amazing story if that would happen.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Max Verstappen was closer to quitting Formula 1 than attempting to muscle his way into McLaren before signing…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":862645,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[573],"tags":[64,63,817,813,816,85],"class_list":["post-862644","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-formula-1","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-f1","tag-formula-1","tag-formula1","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/862644","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=862644"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/862644\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/862645"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=862644"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=862644"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=862644"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}