ZANDVOORT, Netherlands \u2014 Max Verstappen says he seriously considered leaving\u00a0Formula 1\u00a0before the four-time champion instead committed to four more years with Red Bull on Thursday.<\/p>\n
The announcement of his contract extension ahead of Verstappen\u2019s home Dutch Grand Prix this weekend ends\u00a0speculation\u00a0that he could seek a blockbuster move to another team or\u00a0quit\u00a0the sport.<\/p>\n
It comes despite Red Bull struggling to match the pace of leading team Mercedes\u00a0this season, and Verstappen’s own frustration with how much the 2026 cars rely on electrical power.<\/p>\n
\u201cAfter the first few races (this year), I said to Laurent (Mekies, Red Bull team principal): \u2018Don\u2019t come to me with any kind of questions about the future because I don\u2019t even know if I want to stay.\u2019 Honestly, we always kept it very open,\u201d Verstappen said.<\/p>\n
He added that talks with F1 and governing body the FIA had persuaded him that \u201cwe are slowly working towards something that becomes better and better\u201d with the current cars, while the new contract until 2030 could cover a potential \u2014 but not confirmed \u2014\u00a0return\u00a0to simpler V8 engines.<\/p>\n
\u201cEven if I\u2019m not entirely happy with how the package is, I still love racing, this is still the pinnacle of motorsport, so I still want to be here,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n
Asked whether he\u2019d spoken with other teams, he said: \u201cI think I was closer to retiring than changing team.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Verstappen-Red Bull pairing could set an F1 record<\/p>\n
Seeing out the contract in full would take Verstappen to 15 seasons with Red Bull. It would be the longest-running driver-team pairing in F1 history. It comes with strong support for team principal Mekies after he replaced the team’s founding boss Christian Horner last year.<\/p>\n
In return, Mekies laid out how the team is built around Verstappen.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s a lot more than the fastest driver in the world for us,\u201d Mekies said. \u201cHe\u2019s the central point of the team. He\u2019s 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.\u201d<\/p>\n
Verstappen, already considered one of F1\u2019s all-time greats at the age of 28, has yet to win a race this season. The 71-time race winner hasn\u2019t had a winless season since his rookie year in 2015.<\/p>\n
Why there was speculation Verstappen might move<\/p>\n
Verstappen\u2019s previous contract ran through 2028 but reportedly included performance-related clauses which could have potentially allowed him to leave earlier and which fueled speculation he might seek to move.<\/p>\n
Red Bull backed Verstappen\u2019s career from childhood and brought him into F1 at the age of 17 in 2015 at its second team, then called Toro Rosso. That made him the youngest driver in series history, a record he still holds.<\/p>\n
Still, there had been signs of tension in recent years amid the departures of a series of key staff, including Horner last year and car design great Adrian Newey.<\/p>\n
Verstappen also raised safety concerns this season after two separate faults with the Red Bull car\u2019s rear wing hurled him into high-speed crashes.<\/p>\n
Verstappen had been linked with a move to McLaren after reports of a meeting in June between his representatives and McLaren management. McLaren chief executive Zak Brown said at the time the team didn’t have an opening for him and would stick with defending champion Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri, who said Thursday he hadn’t been worried for his seat.<\/p>\n
Mercedes had also signaled interest in the past.<\/p>\n
\u201cDrivers talk with different teams, teams talk with different drivers. Everyone has to just see what their cards are,” Mercedes’ George Russell said Thursday. “My seat never felt under threat, and I felt 100% security with Toto (Wolff, team principal) and the team. That obviously now continues.\u201d<\/p>\n
One driver who had been considered a potential replacement for Verstappen at Red Bull, Carlos Sainz Jr., signed a new contract on Wednesday with Williams.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"ZANDVOORT, Netherlands \u2014 Max Verstappen says he seriously considered leaving\u00a0Formula 1\u00a0before the four-time champion instead committed to four…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":301807,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[49,48,82],"class_list":["post-865310","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/865310","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=865310"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/865310\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/301807"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=865310"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=865310"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=865310"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}