Max Verstappen and his future, the topic of the moment in F1
The Dutchman did not hide his annoyance with the new regulations, Red Bull did not give him a competitive car, the departure of GianPiero Lambiase was announced, the bleeding in Milton Keynes does not stop… His continuity in the World Cup is in danger.
It doesn’t matter who has the 1 painted on their car or which team dominates in Formula 1, Max Verstappen will always be in the news and the most followed driver today.. His successes and ways of taking a stance on issues of any kind always put the four-time champion in the center of attention. At just 28 years old, he has accumulated 236 races, four titles, 71 victories, 48 pole positions and 127 podiums. On May 15, he will celebrate ten years since his debut at Red Bull, the team he joined after 23 races at Toro Rosso to take the seat of the demoted Daniil Kvyat. His debut with the Milton Keynes team couldn’t have been better: he won the Spanish GP that remains in memory due to the elimination of the two Mercedes due to the collision between their drivers, Nico Rosberg and Lewis Hamilton. These days, the big doubt is about Max’s continuity in the World Cup.
It is not a contract issue: his link with the energy drinks team ends at the close of the 2028 championship. His possible departure from Red Bull was one of the hottest topics of 2025, at a time when the RB21 was far from competing against the powerful McLaren. lWith the final part of the year over and the battle for the crown all the way to the end, doubts overlapped and the flirtation with Mercedes-Benz was frozen. Verstappen is the weakness of Toto Wolff, the director of the Silver Arrowsso much so that the Austrian was the factotum who brought Max a car from the star to fulfill his desire to race in GT3 at the Nürburgring.
TMaybe Max’s future is a move to Mercedes. Can you imagine a Kimi Antonelli-Verstappen duo? However, there is also the chance that he decides to leave the World Cup. Perhaps definitive, perhaps for a sabbatical in 2027. The Dutchman has already said several times that he does not see himself in his forties in F1 like Fernando Alonso or Lewis Hamilton. He doesn’t want that. He even went so far as to say that he will race as long as he has fun and that is where the main issue these days emerges: Max is not having fun with the new technical regulations.
The way the pilots drove had to change. You can no longer search for the limit, because the blessed battery is discharged. For this reason, Max pushed harder to race in GT3, because that is where he feels he is doing his original job as a driver, he does not have to manage energy, turning slower so as not to lose power. Added to that is that Verstappen experienced a huge change within Red Bull. ANDIn ten years any company has a variation in names, but in Milton Keynes it was from start to finish and sooner rather than later none other than GainPiero Lambiase will be added to the list, his track engineer since that Spanish GP, who, over time, became his right-hand man and friend. The engineer will leave for McLaren in 2028 at the latest, although it is likely that his departure from Red Bull will come sooner.
A quick review of Red Bull 2016 compared to Red Bull 2026 shows what a profound renewal there was. To begin with, Dietrich Mateschitz, the father of the Red Bull company, is no longer there, who died in 2022. Today the management of everything was divided and it is Oliver Mintzlaff who assumed control of the team. Christian Horner was the team manager when Max arrived, but the Englishman was fired in 2025 and his position was taken by Laurent Mekies. Horner’s departure is probably the one Max regretted the least, perhaps he even enjoyed it.
Helmut Marko, the team’s advisor and Max’s constant listening man, also left. Red Bull’s technical group in 2016 was headed by Adrian Newey, who was supported by Rob Marshall, Paul Monaghan, Rob Gray, Steve Winstanley, David Worner, Pierre Waché, Dan Fallows and Craig Skinner. Of all that group that Max knew, only Waché, who was promoted to technical director, and Monaghan remain. In sports management there was Jonathan Wheatley, who left for Sauber in 2025 and began as director of Audi in 2026, although he resigned after the Chinese GP.
How much will Lambiase’s departure affect Max? He once said that if his engineer retired, he would leave F1. It’s true, it was a long time ago and I was younger. And Dad Jos said they were aware of the offer Lambiase had from Woking and to encourage him to take it. But we must not ignore something important: Verstappen is not happy with this new World Cup and is in a team in which the bleeding of those faces he saw when he first arrived ten years ago does not stop. Mekies showed the will to contain him and retain him in 2025. The situation with Horner was very tense and the Frenchman, with a past at Ferrari, decompressed everything. But the 2026 regulation arrived and its prediction came true: the four-time champion had anticipated a year and a half ago all the evils that the regulations would confront.
Verstappen is the highest paid driver in F1 with 70 million dollars, ten above his second in the ranking, Lewis Hamilton. But money is not something that distorts your thinking. Only Max knows what his future will be. The contract that links him to Red Bull is full of clauses, as is the case with all drivers. In some cases, they are largely in favor of the teams. In others, like Max, the items are more on the pilots’ side. The lack of competitiveness of his RB22 is one of the points that can free him. Will he fulfill his contract until 2028? Will he go to Mercedes? Will he throw everything away at the end of the current year and go to race in European GT3 tournaments at tracks that he can reach in a while with his jet and can return home to be with Lily, his daughter who will turn one on May 1? Verstappen is the owner of his future and the novel of 2026 will be what Max will do in 2027. The game is open.
