Mercedes move or sabbatical year?
Max Verstappen‘s manager Raymond Vermeulen was very good at securing for his client both a rich and long contract with Red Bull from which it would be equally simple to break free the moment the Milton Keynes team proved not to be competitive. A year ago Verstappen could have broken free from the contract if he had not been in the top-3 of the Drivers’ World Championship by the summer break, a clause that was not triggered because the Dutchman was behind McLaren in third position.
In this 2026, however, the conditions for breaking free are even simpler. According to what was reported by The Telegraph, in fact, Verstappen will be able to exit the contract if he is not among the top two in the Drivers’ World Championship and in light of the situation the Dutchman can already consider himself free just as Red Bull would do well to think about a replacement.
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Verstappen will be able to afford to wait until the month of October before informing the team of his decision. There are two paths leading Max away from Red Bull, one leads to a move to Mercedes, even if Toto Wolff recently emphasized that both George Russell and Andrea Kimi Antonelli have multi-year contracts. The other leads to a sabbatical year to be dedicated to GT3 and endurance racing such as the 24 Hours of Le Mans.
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