For 2026, however, everything is open.
“We are already working on the 2025 car, in F1 it doesn’t work that someone suddenly shows up in the garage and says ‘hello everyone, I’m going somewhere else’”. Max Verstappen has always been very clear in not questioning his permanence at Red Bull in 2025 and so it will be. The Milton Keynes team, to completely avoid the possibility of losing Verstappen, has modified Helmut Marko’s contract, thus eliminating the possibility that the Dutch driver could exploit the Austrian manager’s departure to terminate his contract with Red Bull.
As highlighted by the online edition of the The Telegraph Toto Wolff has come to the conclusion that there is no chance of snatching Verstappen from Red Bull as early as 2025 and for this reason the announcement is imminent Andrea Kimi Antonelli as Lewis Hamilton’s heir alongside George Russell in 2025 (the Italian Grand Prix in Monza is coming up, a perfect opportunity to make the Bolognese’s promotion to F1 official).
For 2026, however, the game is still open regarding the possibility of Verstappen moving to Mercedes. will start from scratch and will be linked to performance clauses that the three-time world champion has always had in the contract that ties him to Red Bull. If Red Bull were to stutter to the point of triggering these clauses in 2025, then the Verstappen-Mercedes duo could become a reality and it will be interesting when Antonelli’s arrival is made official to evaluate whether the length of the contract will be specified or whether the now customary formula of a multi-year agreement will be used without giving further indications. If Antonelli is announced with a two-year contract, the driver at risk for 2026 in view of Verstappen would automatically become George Russell, whose contract expires at the end of 2025.
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