Formula 1 Rumor: Verstappen exit clause may already be triggered
(GMM) Max Verstappen (pictured) may soon be free to skip out of his long-term Red Bull contract that runs through the 2028 season.
To date, it has been rumored that only dropping to P4 in the drivers’ standings by the end of July will trigger the oft-mentioned performance exit clause.
But fellow Dutchman and ex-Red Bull driver Robert Doornbos, who knows the quadruple world champion well, has different information.
“He has to be in the top two of the championship halfway through the year,” he told the Pit Talk podcast. “That is not the case now.
“That exit clause is now activated.”
That would go a long way to explaining the sudden resurgence of rumors connecting 27-year-old Verstappen with a switch for 2026 to Mercedes.
Jos Verstappen, part of his son’s management team, clashed badly with team boss Christian Horner last year. Auto Motor und Sport reports that the Verstappen camp’s clear leverage over the team may now be pushing for Horner to be either ousted or disempowered.
Many think that if Verstappen really does depart, Red Bull would be in serious trouble.
“Other teams are making progress,” Jos told Race Express. “Ferrari brought some good upgrades. We know that McLaren is always at the front, and Mercedes is somewhere in between.”
As for Red Bull’s Austria-spec upgrade, Verstappen’s father added: “I don’t think it made that much difference. You saw it with (Yuki) Tsunoda – he did not even make Q2.
“The speed is nowhere to be found. It’s just not going well enough.”
Amid the rumors in Austria, Max notably did not say explicitly that he will still be at Red Bull in 2026. “The world champion is gradually getting bored with the weekly apology bingo,” De Telegraaf newspaper claims.
“It’s not for nothing that Verstappen hasn’t said yet that he will definitely drive for Red Bull next season.”
When asked about his future last weekend, Verstappen commented: “I don’t have much to say about it.
“The more I say, the more it will be reported,” he told Viaplay. “You can interpret that however you want. I’d just rather not say much more about it.”
Horner’s position is that the renewed Verstappen speculation is being revved up by Mercedes and George Russell. Indeed, some suspect Russell has already been quietly given a contract extension behind the scenes.
“George isn’t exploring the market intensively enough,” Horner suspects. “If he was really worried about his place, he would be looking around.
“We focus on ourselves,” Horner told Viaplay. “We know what the situation is with Max, and what contract he has. The rest are rumors, which do not come from Max.”
Many think Verstappen is not just dismayed about a lack of progress at Red Bull, but nervous that Mercedes will have a clearly superior power unit for the new regulations.
Dr Helmut Marko insists that the in-house Red Bull-Ford project is on target.
“We can’t prove that to him, but nobody can,” the team advisor said.
Publicly, meanwhile, Verstappen is remaining tight-lipped.
“I just want to do my thing and not put anyone under pressure,” he insisted. “I just want to do my best. Then I’ll go home and do other things I’m involved with, then I’ll go to the next race.
“It’s not that I’m thinking a lot more now than last year or the years before that. I’m just very relaxed about everything. What people say here doesn’t interest me that much.
“I determine my own future.”
However, Marko doesn’t hide that plenty of action is occurring behind the scenes.
“Everyone is talking to everyone,” the 82-year-old Austrian admitted.
“As everyone knows, Max has a contract with us until 2028. To keep him happy and on board, we have to give him a competitive car. That is not quite the case now, but we are getting close.
“If he feels that he can win with us, he will stay.”