Red Bull CEO has ‘no doubt’ Max Verstappen finishes career with team

AMSTERDAM – While there has been plenty of doubt about where Max Verstappen will end up before his Formula One career is done, Red Bull chief executive Oliver Mintzlaff is less speculative.

“I feel there is a huge mutual appreciation and loyalty,” Mintzlaff ​said to Dutch newspaper De Telegraaf about Red Bull’s top driver. “For me there is no doubt that Max Verstappen will end his career at Red Bull.”

Verstappen, 28, was the four-time defending F1 drivers’ ​champion heading ​into the 2025 season. He got off to an unexpected slow start and did not exactly squash rumours that he might leave his team through performance clauses in his contract.

The team also had off-track issues, firing team principal Christian Horner in July.

At the end of that month, though, Verstappen said that he was staying with Red Bull through the 2026 season, ending speculation that he might depart to ​drive for Mercedes.

The commitment was most notable on the track, with the driver winning six of the final nine races after winning just twice over the first 15 races.

The late push nearly ended up in a fifth consecutive drivers’ title, before

McLaren’s Lando Norris won his first title

in his seventh season.

“What is important to say is that I am not afraid of any performance clause in his contract,” Mintzlaff said.

“What is most important for an athlete is to see that everyone in ​the team gives everything for him. And I think Max has been impressed by the way the results and the atmosphere in the team have turned this year.”

Verstappen remains under contract with Red Bull through 2028. But he said that he will still walk away early, pending F1’s decision on new technical regulations with engines and car set-ups.

“I’ve hated this car at times, but I’ve also loved it at times,” he said after he finished two points shy of the drivers’ title. “And I always tried to extract the most from it, even in the difficult weekends that ​we’ve had.”

But, in a moment that perhaps inspired Mintzlaff’s confidence that his top driver will remain with the team for the long term, ​Verstappen had praise for everybody associated with Red Bull.

“I mean, I have no regrets about my season,” the Dutchman added.

“Also, in the team, we have a great atmosphere at the moment. We’re really on a roll – positive energy, belief, confidence – and that’s exactly what you want heading into next year.”

F1, set to expand to 11 teams with the arrival of Cadillac, is facing a major reset in 2026 with a new generation of engines and the biggest technical upheaval in decades.

The usual suspects are likely to stay competitive but nobody really knows who will be ahead.

“Championships are important, but they do not tell the whole story. Sometimes the best driver does not win the title,” observed Damon Hill, who dethroned Ferrari great Michael Schumacher to take the 1996 crown.

McLaren have won two constructors’ crowns on the trot and sealed the team and driver’s title double in 2025 for the first time since 1998.

Mercedes, who power McLaren and whose factory team finished runners-up with two wins from George Russell, could provide far stiffer opposition.

The last time the sport had a major engine change, in 2014, Mercedes went on a dominant run of eight successive constructors’ titles.

Frenchman Isack Hadjar joins Verstappen at Red Bull after an excellent rookie season at Racing Bulls, with a first podium at the Dutch Grand Prix.

How the 21-year-old matches up, as Verstappen’s fourth teammate since the end of 2024, will be another fascinating storyline when the season starts in Australia on March 8. REUTERS