Max Verstappen\u2019s future in Formula One will not be swayed by staff departures at Red Bull, according to team principal Laurent Mekies.<\/p>\n
Dutchman Verstappen has been a huge critic of F1\u2019s new rules — comparing them to Mario Kart — and hinted at the last round in Japan that he could walk away.<\/p>\n
There have been some structural changes at Red Bull, with mechanic Ole Schack resigning last month and chief designer Craig Skinner having also left the team.<\/p>\n
It has also since emerged that the four-time world champion\u2019s long-term race engineer and close ally Gianpiero Lambiase was set to leave Red Bull when his contract expires to join rivals McLaren as chief racing officer in 2028.<\/p>\n
Mekies, though, stressed it was \u201cabsolutely not\u201d the case that the behind-the-scenes moves would likely result in Verstappen — who has a contract with Red Bull until 2028 — deciding to switch teams or even leave the sport.<\/p>\n
\u201cObviously, we speak with Max every day. And Max knows motorsport upside-down. He\u2019s living and breathing this team,\u201d Mekies told The Telegraph at the Red Bull facility in Milton Keynes. <\/p>\n
\u201cHe knows most of these guys. He understands very well the dynamics that can happen.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mekies added: \u201cThe team has been extremely successful and you can\u2019t promote everyone, and some people make some decisions.\u201d<\/p>\n
F1 chiefs have agreed a number of tweaks to the rulebook — aimed at appeasing Verstappen and others critical of the new rules — with the changes set to be introduced for the Miami Grand Prix when the season resumes following cancellation of the races in Bahrain and Saudi Arabia.<\/p>\n
– Miami GP: What we learned before F1\u2019s break — and why Kimi Antonelli, Mercedes face U.S. test- F1\u2019s 2026 rule tweaks: What\u2019s changed after driver criticism, and will it make a difference?<\/p>\n
Red Bull have struggled to make an impact on the podium so far this season, with Verstappen finishing in eighth place in Suzuka as early championship leader Kimi Antonelli took another victory for Mercedes.<\/p>\n
Mekies, though, maintains everyone on the team is determined to get things back on track.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe atmosphere right now is fantastic, in terms of trying to turn around what seems to be a difficult thing to turn around,\u201d he said. \u201cIt won\u2019t happen in Miami, [but] I hope we see some signs.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Max Verstappen\u2019s future in Formula One will not be swayed by staff departures at Red Bull, according to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":634463,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[441],"tags":[49,48,578,86971,576,577,88754,82],"class_list":["post-634462","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-formula-1","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-f1","tag-f1-sports-auto-racing-league-f1","tag-formula-1","tag-formula1","tag-max-verstappen-sports-auto-racing-player-player-statscom-843471","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/634462","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=634462"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/634462\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/634463"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=634462"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=634462"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=634462"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}