Amid the tensions going on within the Red Bull team since Christian Horner’s scandal regarding his behaviour towards a female employee of the team became public earlier this year – and more recently the exit of the team’s Chief Technical Officer Adrian Newey – there have been rumours that reigning three-time world champion Max Verstappen could leave the squad by the end of the current season.
The most likely landing spot for the Dutchman would be Mercedes, who are reportedly willing to pay a very lucrative salary of over $150m per year to lure Verstappen away from Milton Keynes, with Toto Wolff publicly courting the Dutchman in the last few months.
But speaking to selected media ahead of the Miami GP, Verstappen denied that money will be a consideration when looking ahead to his future in F1, making it clear that it is “all about performance”:
“I’m happy with what I’m earning already, it’s about performance.”
With Mercedes struggling to get to grips with the new ground-effect era of F1 cars that have been in place since the start of 2022, Verstappen is adamant that he would get “grumpy” if he were to race in the midfield like Mercedes has been doing for some time – for reference Lewis Hamilton, his former championship rival, has only scored 19 points out of the five grand prix’s and one Sprint held so far in 2024 – and made it clear his future is currently “within Red Bull”:
“I know myself that if I will be driving for P5 or P6, you get quite grumpy with yourself,” he said. “So, it’s always about performance at the end of the day. I mean, everyone knows that, Toto [Wolff] also knows that.
“My future is within Red Bull at the moment.”
He also reiterated that he “believes in the project” that’s in place at Red Bull – even considering the 2026 car and power unit regulations – but admitted Wolff is right to try and get the best personnel for his team, including the potential replacement for Lewis Hamilton as he leaves for Ferrari next year:
“I think everyone should always be optimistic and hopeful in things.
“But at the moment, I can say that I want to stay with the team because I believe in the project that we have with everyone involved.
“But at the end of the day, in sports but also in life, you don’t know what’s going to happen in the future.”
