Verstappen and Red Bull a year later
The eve of the 2025 Hungarian GP was very similar to what is being experienced today on the driver market front, with Max Verstappen always at the center of attention. Today, as then, the Dutchman’s future at Red Bull is in strong doubt, with his contract expiring in 2028 featuring crucial termination clauses to end the four-time world champion’s experience with the Milton Keynes team prematurely, especially after all the dissatisfactions of this championship. While last year Verstappen seemed close to an agreement with Mercedes, in recent weeks rumors have emerged about a move to McLaren, even more so after his retirement at Silverstone.
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All the calls
However, Red Bull Team Principal, Laurent Mekies, is confident that his driver can remain with the team, despite Verstappen’s management working to find solutions elsewhere along with requests from other drivers to come to Milton Keynes: “It works both ways – he explained in an interview with Sky Sports F1 – it’s absolutely natural that Max is called by everyone because he is the best driver in the world, and likewise, if you are a top team, you will receive calls from many of these good drivers. It’s normal. Is it a distraction for us? Not really. The main goal is to make the car as fast as possible to keep our best driver in the world, and we also see huge growth from Isack (Hadjar) and Max. For us, they are the ideal pair and we are trying to keep them.”
Progress
The French engineer therefore remains confident about the possibility of continuing with Verstappen, also thanks to an update package brought to Austria which contributed to securing two podiums: “All we have to do is keep improving with the car – he continued – we started the season with just over a second deficit, and I don’t think we should be surprised. I think it’s a consequence of how late the title fight ended last year and the incredible challenge posed by the new power unit. We started at a disadvantage, but these guys did it again. We were more than a second behind, and now we are talking about the last two or three tenths of a second for the final pace. When you are only a second behind the leader, the drivers get frustrated, Max gets frustrated, and we know that’s not a situation we want to stay in. The best way to close the gap is to recover those last two or three tenths, and that’s what everyone is focusing on.”
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