Verstappen finally declares his Red Bull future for F1 2026

Max Verstappen has fully committed to Red Bull for the 2026 Formula 1 season, removing any lingering doubts about his contract situation.

Verstappen had once again become the subject of intense speculation in recent weeks after Mercedes driver George Russell revealed his team had been holding conversations with the Dutchman's entourage over their future plans.

Verstappen has a Red Bull contract until the end of 2028, but with various exit clauses which had triggers around the summer break. As previously reported by Autosport, those clauses were believed to free him up if he didn't feature in the top three of the drivers' championship, which is now no longer possible after his fourth place in Belgium.

And while a move for 2026 always looked much less likely than 2027, when he will have a better view of which teams have made the best start to a sweeping new regulations cycle, Verstappen had always carefully danced around the subject of his 2026 drive when asked about it in recent weeks.

But speaking to the media ahead of this weekend's Hungarian Grand Prix, Verstappen finally stated in no uncertain terms he was staying with the team that helped him to four consecutive world championships.

"I've never really said anything about it because I was just focused on talking to the team about how we can improve our performance, future ideas for next year as well, and that's why I had nothing really to add," he said.

Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing

Photo by: Alastair Staley / LAT Images via Getty Images

"But I think it's time to basically stop all the rumours, and for me it's always been quite clear that I was staying anyway.

"I think that was also the general feeling in the team anyway, because we were always in discussions about what we could do with the car. And when you're not interested in staying, then you also stop talking about these kind of things – and I never did."

It is understood Verstappen's exit clauses can also come into play again next summer. When asked if he is expecting a similar level of media scrutiny in 12 months’ time, he replied: "I don't know. I mean if you ask me that question next year, then yes, and we'll have that speculation.

"But I never speak about it, because I'm more interested in just working on the performance of things, so that's why I also never really talk about what is in my contract."

'No point in completely writing off 2025'

Verstappen has long been resigned to being out of the 2025 title fight given McLaren's dominance, now trailing championship leader Oscar Piastri by 81 points.

But while his and Red Bull's focus is on making a flying start in the new rules era, he doesn't want to fully write off 2025 either.

"No one really knows for next year where they will be at," he explained. "And for us this year, realistically it's going to be very difficult to fight McLaren. I think it's already difficult enough to fight with Ferrari and Mercedes.

Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing

Photo by: Erik Junius

"But I think there's still a lot of opportunity to learn more about the car and the behaviour of the car. Of course, I know that the cars will be different next year , but there are still things that you can take out of this year on the engineering side of things and also implement for next year.

"So, you cannot just say: 'Okay, we're not winning the championship this year, so we just write it off completely.'"

With Verstappen staying put, the ball is now in Mercedes' camp to hammer out contract renewals for its current driver pairing George Russell and Andrea Kimi Antonelli, both of which were in a holding pattern until Verstappen's future was fully cleared up.