Max Verstappen has dropped the biggest hint yet that he will remain a Red Bull driver for the F1 2025 season after Mercedes boss Toto Wolff admitted he is no longer in “talks” with the reigning World Champion.
Despite winning 51 of the last 76 races – and holding a contract until the end of the F1 2028 season – Verstappen has been heavily linked with a move away from Red Bull over recent months in light of the off-track saga engulfing the team in early F1 2024.
Max Verstappen set to stay with Red Bull for F1 2025?
Additional reporting by Thomas Maher
Wolff has made no secret of his desire to sign Verstappen as the successor to seven-time World Champion Lewis Hamilton, who announced in February that he will join Ferrari on a multi-year contract from next season.
PlanetF1.com revealed last month that Mercedes had cooled their interest in Carlos Sainz – the driver Hamilton will replace at Ferrari in F1 2025 – to monitor Verstappen’s situation at Red Bull.
It is understood that the team are prepared to promote Andrea Kimi Antonelli, the 17-year-old Italian sensation who recently commenced an extensive F1 test program to prepare him for a likely grand prix debut, as George Russell’s F1 2025 team-mate if Verstappen is deemed unattainable.
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Speaking to media including PlanetF1.com at last weekend’s Spanish Grand Prix, Wolff confirmed that Mercedes are no longer in negotiations with Verstappen with the team prioritising improvements to their W15 car after consecutive podium finishes in Canada and Barcelona.
He said: “There’s no talks taking place at this stage [with Verstappen] because I think we need to look at ourselves and improve the car.”
Asked ahead of this weekend’s Austrian Grand Prix, Red Bull’s home race, if he will definitely stay with his current team for F1 2025, Verstappen said that he is focused on recapturing the team’s dominant form in the face of a mounting threat from the likes of McLaren, Ferrari and Mercedes.
He told media including PlanetF1.com: “I think I’ve said this before.
“Of course, people are talking but it’s most important just that we have a very competitive car for the future.
“At the moment, of course, it’s very tight, but we are working very well as a team to try and improve more.
“And for sure, I said this already with the team, we are working and focusing also on next year to try and be competitive again.”
Pressed on whether he would walk away from Red Bull at the end of the F1 2024 season if the team are unable to prove to him that they have the quickest car, he added: “I don’t think that’s how Formula 1 works, where then suddenly you can say: ‘Well, bye guys.’
“It’s not how it works. I have a long contract with the team, I’m very happy where I’m at. And like I said before, we are focusing also already on next year with things that we can implement on the car.
“So I guess that should say enough [about] where I’m driving next year.”
Verstappen’s comments come after Ola Kallenius, the group chairman and chief executive of Mercedes-Benz, quipped that Verstappen “would look good in silver” at last weekend’s Spanish Grand Prix, hinting the team could yet persuade the World Champion to leave Red Bull in time for the F1 2026 rule changes.
“The best driver wants to have the best car. And that’s our job, to bring the best package together,” Mr Kallenius told Sky Germany.
“The cards will be reshuffled in 2026. New order with new rules. That’s also an opportunity. Who knows?
“But I think Max would look good in silver, wouldn’t he?”
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