Max Verstappen: Red Bull or Mercedes? His father, Jos, throws a wrench in the works
Max Verstappen is caught between Red Bull and a future that could see him at Mercedes—or, in any case, as the protagonist of a historic team switch at the end of 2026. This is one of the most widespread rumors of the summer, just as Formula 1 is on its summer break. However, the father of the great Dutch champion, Jos, has weighed in on the matter with his usual blunt, direct, and clear style.
Jos Verstappen took to his X profile to repost an article from the Dutch edition of ‘GPBlog’ explaining that Red Bull is attempting to play dirty in order to retain the four-time world champion. Specifically, by waiving the much-discussed “exit clauses,” which would allow him to leave the team ahead of 2027 if he fails to finish the current season in the top two spots of the drivers’ championship. “You know absolutely nothing,” Max’s father simply stated. This serves as further evidence that, most likely, the situation is even more complicated than it appears from the outside.
Images circulating on social media in recent days have made the picture even clearer, showing Max Verstappen on vacation in Sardinia with Toto Wolff and their respective partners, Kelly Piquet and Susie Stoddart. The four-time world champion moored his yacht “Unleash the Lion” in the island’s waters, and his reunion with the Silver Arrows’ team principal — which had already taken place during the week of Ferragosto 2025 in Cala Volpe, when Wolff himself hosted Verstappen on his personal yacht, the Mangusta — has inevitably reignited speculation about a possible future for the Dutchman at Mercedes.
The World Championship standings paint a brutally clear picture of Verstappen’s current standing. At the halfway point of the season, the Dutchman sits in sixth place with just 109 points, a world away from leader Andrea Kimi Antonelli, who has already racked up 219 points. This gap makes the release clause tied to his final standings a very real possibility: to remain locked in at Red Bull through 2028, Verstappen would need to finish the season in the top two spots—a scenario that is far from a foregone conclusion at this point. Not surprisingly, as early as June, former driver Ralf Schumacher had revealed that Mercedes would present a confidential offer to the Dutchman—an offer he described, however, as “so financially disadvantageous as to not even be an option”: According to the Kaiser’s brother, this was an intentional move by Wolff, who was reluctant to challenge the dominance of his young star by pairing him with such a high-profile and expensive champion.
The tensions between Verstappen and Red Bull, after all, have their roots in a recent and turbulent past. As early as the spring of 2024, when designer Adrian Newey’s departure from the Milton Keynes team had shaken the paddock, it was Jos Verstappen himself who sounded the alarm with harsh words: “The team risks falling apart. That’s what I feared at the start of the year. For the sake of internal harmony within the team, it was important to keep all the key figures on board. That’s no longer the case.” A warning that, in light of current developments, now sounds prophetic.
At Mercedes, meanwhile, Verstappen’s potential arrival would clash with an internal reality that is already complex in and of itself. Toto Wolff has repeatedly reaffirmed his confidence in Antonelli—the current championship leader with a historic lead—but has not ruled out drastic measures in the event of misconduct between teammates, even citing immediate dismissal as a deterrent. George Russell, third in the standings with 160 points and just two wins, is the one who would have the most to fear from the Dutchman’s potential arrival: the Brit finished the Hungarian Grand Prix in sixth place after a comeback from last place, openly admitting that he needs a break. “I’ve never had a season like this in my career,” Russell said—words that, in the context of the rumors surrounding Verstappen, risk weighing heavily on his future at Mercedes. The Formula One circuit will return to the track in late August at Zandvoort for the Dutch Grand Prix: it will be the first test to see whether the fog of summer has brought clarity—or merely new questions.
