Max Verstappen‘s future at Red Bull Racing might not be as secure as everyone thought. Despite his current contract, there’s a chance the four-time world champion could look elsewhere if the team can’t get their act together.
His father Jos Verstappen isn’t pulling any punches about the situation. “Red Bull needs to build a car that’s not so difficult to drive,” he told the Münchner Merkur/tz media group. “Looking at how things went in the second half of 2024, you can’t really feel optimistic.”
It’s been a weird year for Max. The RB20 car hasn’t lived up to expectations, and there were plenty of rumors early in 2024 about him potentially jumping ship to Mercedes.
Jos, a former F1 driver himself, doesn’t think his 26-year-old son will grab that fifth world title this year. That’s pretty shocking considering Red Bull’s dominance in recent seasons.
“Anything is possible,” the elder Verstappen said about Max’s future. “He can stay at Red Bull if he sees the point. But his goal is winning races. If that’s not possible at Red Bull anymore, he might look somewhere else.”
Max himself has admitted he’s not expecting another championship if things stay the same. But he’s trying to stay positive, saying he trusts his engineers know what needs fixing with the car’s balance problems.
The pressure’s definitely on Red Bull now. As Jos put it bluntly: “Red Bull has a big task ahead of it in 2025.”
The situation’s especially interesting given how Mercedes will have an open seat when Lewis Hamilton heads to Ferrari next year. Could we see another major driver move shaking up Formula 1?
