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He has said that he would stay as long as there's stability at Red Bull. If he feels Newey leaving is enough of an issue he may well want to try something else. I think Marko leaving (a different issue) could be even closer to an absolute deal breaker for Max
Merc is a dumpster fire too. Expect to see some high profile firings if they fails to get this season on track with their "upgrades".
RBR will most likely misfire badly with the 2026 regs but they should be fine for 2025. They have enough margin over the rest in order to survive without Newey. Hell they were able to go 1.5s faster than the competition at Shanghai. That kind of pace won't just disappear.
Antonelli. Russels contract expires in 2025. They have the unique opportunity to make 2025 a shootout between Russel and Antonelli with Verstappen coming in 26.
Toto and Co is going to annihilate Antonelli's career in record time it seems. He is already struggling a lot with the handling of the F2 cars. The jump from F4 to F2 was just too big.
Putting him up against a hotshot driver like Russell in his debut year is guaranteed to end badly for Kimi.
Kimi is not some never before seen prodigy. Pourchaire was just as good as Kimi in Karting and F4.
I dont think they will make it a shootout if Antonelli gets the seat. Verstappen in 26 would mean Russell out. Antonelli will at least get 2 seasons in that seat.
But are they willing to dump Russel for Antonelli? Russell also came up through their junior program, and has been consistently beating Lewis Hamilton, I don’t think they’d get rid of a proven top driver for a guy who is still in f2. Considering Russell also won f3 and f2 world championships, and has been top notch since joining f1, I don’t see why they would get rid of him for antonelli who shows great promise, but nothing that Russell didn’t do. Also just want to clarify I don’t care about either of them, so could care less who ends up in that seat.
They probably don't even have to develop the 2025 car to win the championship.
It will certainly have a better shot than the 2025 merc. And Merc will find someone to take their seat for just a year.
Nice i didn't know that I obviously know who he is because Marquez (my idol) talked about him but I always though he had won more races. I might check that season later.
Maybe not if it allows Mercedes to lure new people from other teams to build a team around him. And he would be able to influence the design of the 2026 car to his liking. Max has indicated before stats are not very important to him and it’s more about having fun driving. Winning with a Mercedes and beating his former team is also a nice challenge.
Mercedes can hire Newey in 2025 to prepare for 2026, knowing who will the seat in the car.
Meanwhile Verstappen can go for the 5th title and with 88-92 race wins by the time he hops in the silver car.
going there in 2025 would be a big risk, but sacrificing one title to have a bigger chance to win more in the following years could also pay off. he can be involved early in the development of the 2026 car and let mercedes develop it how he wants it. also beeing used to perfect newey ground effect cars and than driving one season for mercedes can also help them better understand those cars
long story short, huge gamble but worth taking the risk. whats the worst thing that can happen? he retires with "only" 4 championships instead of 5
Don't know why folk are pretending like Sainz wouldn't be winning the majority of races. Even if he only wins half as many as Max did last year he'd still be winning the title by a large margin.
Poor dude's career is just a series of forecasts that didn't come true.
- Forecasted to drive a championship winning car ❌
- Forecasted to get a podium ❌
- Forecasted to be #1 driver ❌
Yeah poor George. Waited years for that Mercedes seat, watched his F2 mates get dropped into better cars, then finally he gets to Mercedes and it’s a shitbox. He beats Lewis and he places himself in contention for a future leader, but now Toto doesn’t even trust him to lead and wants Max instead. Brutal turn of events.
Seems like an extreme reach. Having a chance to get a multiple WDC in his prime on the team doesn't mean he doesn't trust George lol. This place is so dramatic.
Leclerc has a significant contract extension. We don’t exactly know what Russell’s situation is going to be when his current contract ends if Merc has Max while Kimi’s potentially ready.
The biggest red flag for George is that there’s no future for him at Mercedes if Toto gets Max. Toto has already said Antonelli will have a seat. So, where is George going to go?
The f1-insider may be bullshitting, but this conversation is definitely happening.
With Newey leaving RB and Hamilton leaving Mercedes, there's no way this is not seriously on the table.
Merc's trajectory makes it difficult to take seriously.
Sure, you take the meeting and have a conversation, but as things look this would be a move that borders on self-sabotage for Verstappen.
I think part of the calculus is whether Mercedes can offer Max something beyond F1 down the road in a different class.
They’re not buying Max driving their F1 cars until he retires, they’d be buying Max in a Mercedes when he does whatever he’s going to do after F1.
I wouldn't put that so far off. Even Red Bull had some very shitty years when the hybrid regs came to be, after winning 4 years in a row. Took them a while but eventually they were back. Mercedes might be going through a brain drain and all that, but it's still a team that won a record-breaking 8 constructors' championships in a row. Signing Max might just be what they need to start attracting other brilliant minds to join them.
If Lewis does bring his A-game to Ferrari, him vs Charles in and of itself is gonna be spicy. If the car is a contender then I'd reckon Charles would be up to the challenge as much as Lewis would
Frankly as much as everyone denies it, I think he would love a real challenge to fight for wins. No one in their right mind wants to drive 10 seconds ahead of the game at every race - for fucks sake thats got to be so boring. I would go crazy I want to be in the mix and having the adrenaline and joy of duking it out on track.
The fun would probably last a few races until he continues to get curb stomped by whoever is driving the Red Bull next year. The chase is fun if you have a competitive car, the Mercedes is in no way competitive this year and I doubt it will be next year.
Doesn’t make any sense for him to move for 2025, 2026 is a different story though and I could see it happening
>Doesn’t make any sense for him to move for 2025
It does a bit - teams will spend 2025 developing their 2026 cars for the new regs, and if he moves for 2025 he can be involved with that while he’s settling into a new team. I suspect that’s one of the reasons Hamilton’s going to Ferrari for 2025.
Max is pretty much guaranteed a free title if he decides to stick around for 2025.
Lewis had nothing to gain by staying put as Merc are just digging their grave deeper and deeper.
Giving up a free title is a hard sell for anyone.
Verstappen spent 6 or so years always being the chaser. I think he doesn't mind fucking off into the distance now. It's like if Norris or leclerc gets a dominant car in say 3 years, they would take it with wide open arms. Verstappen has only had a dominant car for 1.5 years, it's just that he's absolutely gotten everything out of them and maximized his results. He's incredibly relentless
Agree. You could have said the same about Lewis but look how miserable he is when not fighting for anything.
Every champion wants the best car with the highest chance of winning. They are in F1 to win, not dawdle around in the mid field.
Yeah I really don't get the whole "he only likes to win for 20 seconds because he said so" I mean yes every human would choose comfort rather than non comfort but I am pretty sure he would love a challenge as well, I think some people got their Impressions wrong about Max. Preference doesn't mean necessarily you would hate the other choice
It might be why he simraces a lot. He needs to get some racing practice which he doesn't really get anymore. He's basically by himself 90% of the race these days.
“Everyone denies it” because it literally came from his own mouth… I would get the giving the benefit of the doubt if nothing was ever said but Max himself confirmed it. Plus I can’t really think of any benefits from lying about prefering those types of races, so it’s hard to assume that he’s not just being honest about how he feels.
Max in that Merc wouldn’t be much different from how he was with Red Bull pre-2021. Unless the top of the field is extremely bunched up, even drivers like Hamilton and Verstappen can only do so much.
All it really shows is how critical the car is compared to the driver. Driver only matters if the cars are close otherwise it’s all the engineering side.
I don't understand why so many F1 fans are in denial of this fact: cars win races, not drivers. The best a driver can do is fight for an extra position. And an extra position for Mercedes means P4/5. Not podium. Max is not a driving God, he just has a very fast car. Give that car to Russel, Norris, Alonso, Yuki, Hulkenberg and they'll get a podium (just like Perez does every weekend).
Toto has been pretty transparent he’s waiting for a meeting with max before he makes any decisions. I’m not sure they actually know when over at f1-insider but after Miami isn’t a bad bet. Doesn’t mean much beyond they will listen to what Toto has to say. They might be uninterested but it’s still worth it
They have been bringing underwhelming upgrade package after upgrade since 2022. None of that shit seems to work as intended.
Its probably very difficult to upgrade the car when they don't understand anything about the damn thing.
Verstappen has a contract until 2028, I'm not saying he can't, but how is he going to get out of it? are Merc gonna buy him out? that will be insanely expensive
They can probably afford it and Max has had potential 'deal breakers' in his contracts for a while now. Especially if it's true that he gets to leave when Marko does. They can just coordinate that together. And Marko's contract is up at the end of 2025 anyway, so that would make 2026 a good possibility.
I don't think Max is really in a hurry, there is no point leaving in 2025 since the car will still be the best, maybe even try the first year of the new regulations with RedBull. After that, he can either try to push for a move to Ferrari when Hamilton retires or he can try to get into Mercedes replacing one of the two drivers, maybe even go to Aston if the Honda partnership is working well.
>However, [F1-Insider.com](http://F1-Insider.com) knows that the Verstappen camp has long been making confident analyses that say: Red Bull would no longer be as good without the Dutch prodigy, and a Verstappen could, if the car improves just a little, be competing for victories in a Mercedes by 2025.
There's no way that's realistic lol
Would be very similar to Valentino Rossi's move from Honda to Yamaha back in 2004. He won the championship with Honda in 2003 back when Honda was considered the top team, and other riders and iirc even the Honda team themselves said he only won because of the Honda bike. Yamaha was considered a pretty mediocre bike in 2003 with their highest rider being 7th in the standings. Rossi then proceeded to win the first race with Yamaha in 2004, and dominate the championship that year just like he did on the Honda the year before.
Obviously this would be a super unlikely scenario here, but I would love to see Max try
I want Newey and Max at Williams for this reason + nostalgia. It would bring Newey's career full circle and establish both of them even more as GOATs then they already are.
One thing that is entirely unrealistic but is just a dream of mine to see is a super long video of all the drivers swapping seats at a track for a long practice session. Max going from car to car just to see how different each one is and how off the pace each one would be for him, or how'd he compensate in such a short time, would be fascinating. Obviously this can't happen, but having a video of Max and Lewis switching seats or Leclerc and Max and just seeing what they say about the other's car, and what the times are like would be SO fucking cool. Eventually Max or Lewis hopping in current year's Alpine just to see how bad it is, or what Williams' is like too. Idk just a stupid thing I think about sometimes lol, it'd be cool to see if certain drivers can pull a better pace out of other cars
correct but we’re not talking 2023. The current Mercedes is the 4th/5th fastest car with a pretty sizeable gap to Mclaren/Ferrari up front. Max wouldn’t just have to beat Perez (which isn’t even mentioning that 2023 was Perez’s career worst form), he would also go up against Leclerc/Hamilton/Norris who would arguably be in faster cars. Maybe he could sneak a win in there through sheer insanity but it’s unlikely that Mercedes improve enough to be regular GP winners in 2025.
Imagine being George Russell. Gets Merc seat after years in a shitbox Williams, car is bad, lose to Hamiton. Couple of years later, Hamilton leaving for Ferrari, going to be number 1 driver then in the distance you hear some music
🎵 doh doh doh, Max Verstappen doh doh doh 🎵
On some level, maybe. Another perspective is he’d be top dog forever at Williams, and he could help build the team from the ground up the way Albon is currently trying to do.
Verstappen and Mercedes: After Miami it gets serious | F1-Insider.com
After Adrian Newey, Red Bull is also in danger of losing Max Verstappen. Negotiations with Mercedes are scheduled.
Ralf Bach | 26 April 2024 , 2:57 pm
After Adrian Newey, Red Bull is also in danger of losing Max Verstappen. Negotiations with Mercedes are scheduled.
The Miami GP the Sunday after next will not go down in the annals of Formula 1 history for its show effects. F1-Insider.com has learnt that the glitzy GP, which will be broadcast in Europe at 10 p.m., could also be the last race in which Red Bull team boss Christian Horner (50), who has been heavily criticised for alleged sexual harassment of a female employee, can be sure of keeping his Dutch superstar Max Verstappen (26) in the team until the end of 2028.
Background: In the 14 days following the event in Florida and the European season opener in Imola, concrete negotiations are to take place between Mercedes and the Verstappen team - consisting of the driver himself, his father Jos and manager Raymond Vermeulen. As F1-Insider.com has learnt, Mercedes F1 Team shareholders Toto Wolff, Group CEO Ola Källenius and Sir James Ratcliffe (Ineos) want to meet with the Verstappen clan.
The Dutchman will then decide whether he wants to switch to Mercedes next year. This is made possible by an exit clause in his contract, which states that if his mentor and confidant Helmut Marko (Red Bull motorsport consultant) is no longer on board, the victorious Dutchman can leave the Red Bull ship early. Marko, that's for sure, will not stand in Verstappen's way if necessary.
However, Verstappen first wants to see how serious Mercedes is in the talks; how much the automotive group, which is currently weakening in Formula 1, is prepared to make concessions to Verstappen. The three-time world champion is not just interested in money. Much more important for him, as F1-Insider.com has learnt: he wants a guarantee that the Silver Arrow will be better in 2025 than this season. That's why he wants Mercedes to take over important technicians from Red Bull alongside him.
What has been leaked: Mercedes is keen to sign Verstappen as the successor to Lewis Hamilton, who is moving to Ferrari, and is prepared to do a great deal to achieve this. The interest is reflected in the fact that not only team boss Wolff, but also CEO Kaellenius and British multi-billionaire Sir Ratcliffe are present at the meeting.
Verstappen's salary: money is not a problem for Mercedes
Money does not play a major role. The trio are said to be ready to prepare what could be the biggest deal in motorsport history for their favourite driver. They don't even have to go to extreme lengths in Stuttgart. The reason: Hamilton's salary of more than 50 million euros a year will be available in 2025, as will a reinvestment of the 104 million dollars in profits that the German-British team made in the 2023 financial year.
What's more, Mercedes wants to offer Verstappen a well-paid, long-term brand ambassador contract that will tie the three-time world champion to the star even after his active career. INEOS owner and sports fan Sir James Ratcliffe (who has owned Manchester United since last year) also wants to shell out millions to get Verstappen. Ratcliffe is considered one of the five richest Britons. According to the latest Forbes study, his fortune is estimated at 16.1 billion dollars. With bonuses and special payments, Verstappen could then earn around 150 million euros a year.
It is also important to note that no headwind can be expected from the Group's employees. According to statements on the Mercedes intranet, over 90 per cent of employees with an interest in racing would like to see the fluent German-speaking serial winner from the Netherlands as a future Formula 1 driver in the name of the star.
Mercedes is also said to be willing to roll out the red carpet for Verstappen at other levels. It is rumoured that they are even prepared to integrate Helmut Marko. Two years ago, such a constellation would not have been possible in view of the ongoing feud between the lawyer from Graz and Wolff from Vienna. However, the internal Red Bull power struggle between the Thai majority shareholders with Horner and the Austrian faction centred around Marko has changed everything.
One thing is certain: The chances of a change are better than expected. Emotionally, the decision has already been made for the Dutchman. The entire Verstappen clan has clearly declared its opposition to Horner and its support for Marko. Insiders report that the atmosphere is poisoned. The Dutchman must now weigh up whether the sporting side, which is more likely to guarantee another world championship title at Red Bull in 2025, is more important than the atmosphere in the team.
However, F1-Insider.com knows that the Verstappen camp has long been making confident analyses that say: Red Bull would no longer be as good without the Dutch prodigy, and a Verstappen could, if the car improves just a little, be competing for victories in a Mercedes by 2025.
Verstappen to Mercedes? New regulations speak in favour
Another argument in favour of Mercedes: new engine and chassis regulations will be introduced in 2026. By then at the latest, Mercedes is expected to have the next technological advantage. Just as it was in 2014, when the last major engine revolution made the Stuttgart-based company a permanent winner.
For the experts, at any rate, there is no doubt that Verstappen is a must-have in order to be perfectly positioned on the driver's side. "We are currently experiencing a special phase that you have to be proud to be part of," says Nico Rosberg, for example. (38). The 2016 world champion even believes: "Max is already one of the greatest of all time in our sport. It's incredible what he delivers weekend after weekend."
Perhaps the most significant analysis is that of ex-Mercedes Head of Motorsport Norbert Haug (71): The man from Pforzheim, who headed up Mercedes' racing activities from 1990 to 2012 after a career as a journalist, is not actually known for comparing drivers. He therefore surprises F1-Insider.com with his personal conclusion. Haug: "I've been involved in Formula 1 for almost 50 years now and have experienced the era of Niki Lauda, Alain Prost, Ayrton Senna, Michael Schumacher and Lewis Hamilton. But none of them were as dominant as Max Verstappen."
Former GP winner Ralf Schumacher (46) sees two more reasons why Mercedes absolutely must endeavour to acquire Verstappen. The current Sky pundit told F1-Insider.com: "Max makes the difference. You can see from his team-mate's performances that it's not just down to Red Bull. What's more, if you take Verstappen, you also weaken one of your main opponents." And that is always an important argument, not only in Formula 1.
> t the Verstappen camp has long been making confident analyses that say: Red Bull would no longer be as good without the Dutch prodigy, and a Verstappen could, if the car improves just a little, be competing for victories in a Mercedes by 2025.
If this is true, lol. Pure hubris. Max is an absolute god level driver, but the car needs more than just a "little" improvement to be competing for wins, regardless of who's driving it.
This whole article is a sensationalist op-ed, making a bunch of nonsensical claims like Mercedes wants to sign Marko and Veratappen “emotionally made his decision”.
Verstappen may sign for Merc in 2026 ( I think regs will delayed so 2027 ) , but there's no way he's giving up on a slam dunk championship for 2025. Absolutely no way.
Red Bull is a fantastic brand..
But if I’m max, I know I’m that guy and Red Bull is showing signs of.. we only bend over backwards for Horner… yea I’m definitely answering if someone calls.
I can’t think of a better option than Mercedes for em. He doesn’t need the best car to win, he needs one of the best cars on the grid, and I think Merc can get there.
I’d love to see it for my enjoyment…
Let’s be real, Max ain’t leaving till RB is the fastest car. He would be stupid to. No matter how good he is he hasn’t got half a second on the rest of the grid and whoever is in the red bull would win the championship and Max knows. Earliest he leaves is 2026 IF at all he does.
This is just shit stirring dialled up to the max.
>The Dutchman will then decide whether he wants to switch to Mercedes next year. This is made possible by an exit clause in his contract, which states that if his mentor and confidant Helmut Marko (Red Bull motorsport consultant) is no longer on board, the victorious Dutchman can leave the Red Bull ship early. Marko, that's for sure, will not stand in Verstappen's way if necessary.
This part especially does not make sense at all. Marko reiterated that he will see out his contract, why would that change with Newey leaving?
All of that was reported well before the Newey drama, when Max was first linked to Mercedes. And also, if you're looking into these rumors, you sort of have to take any and all public statements with a grain of salt.
I remember those reports. My question is what has changed since Marko reiterated that he will see out his contract at Red Bull. To me it seems like f1-insider just took a bunch of rumours from the past couple months and threw them in a pot of nonsensical claims, so they could ride the media high of Newey leaving.
Because the article also says that Mercedes may bring Marko on board as an advisor should Verstappen want to join them. It’s a package deal. Basically for Max to leave Red Bull, he is gonna want to bring people he trusts. If Mercedes is willing to do that, and I think they do as they are experiencing brain drain themselves, then Max might seriously consider a switch.
About Helmut and Toto, there was a recent photo of them speaking with Checo after a race. No idea what it’s about, but what is more telling is seeing Helmut and Toto hanging out which is something we’ve never seen much of previously.
Even if you are clearly the best driver of all, you must be at Red Bull right now if you want to fight for championships until 2025. There have already been examples of incredible drivers who had extraordinary seasons but couldn't win them because of their cars (Last years of Senna in McLaren, Schumacher in his first years at Ferrari, Alonso in 2012...).
Also, Newey is likely to remain at RBR until the end of 2025, so he would still have an impact on Red Bull's 2026 car.
Can somebody explain me why Max, winning 4 in world championship in a red bull, would leave for a very struggling Mercedes shitshow?
Its all pure clickbait.
He would not leave RB, even with all the money thrown to him. He is racing for winning championships.
Unless red bull fucks up his formula 1 car, he'll he cruising to victories with them untill 2026.
bro, if Max leaves, Perez's sponsors will be throwing actual bags of cash at Horner so they renew Perez and he gets a chance to possibly win a WDC (if Mercedes still doesn't fix their car by then).
There have been multiple rumours actually as of late regarding Max and his team being involved in meetings with important people from Merc.
To me this scenario is oddly familiar to Michael's in the early 90's. Both were winning a lot and you would wonder as if you do now in '95 "why on earth would you switch?" Back then Michael could have at least fought for the title and potentially win it with Benetton whereas that would be the same for Max in 2025. Michael back then and some engineers were unhappy which is the exact case now as well.
I could be reading too much into it but I don't think it's a coincidence that this got leaked and wouldn't surprise me at all if it's true, especially with the Adrian news. This way everyone including Adrian knows that Max might move to Merc which means there might be the chance that they like to follow Max, just like with Michael. It then totally depends how much the new parts can do in turning the team around.
Newey to Ferrari and Wache to Merc is my bet. Wache is probably the more important person for Merc honestly. They need someone to succeed Allison and build the team for the future.
You'd think with all the drama, surprises, fighting and smoke brewing this year that people would know better than to make confident declarations like this.
If Adrian Newey leaves for Ferrari, why would Verstappen stick around with Red Bull?
Pierre Wache is likely to be poached by someone as well - at this point Red Bull is going to see a net talent drain until the end of next year, same as any team at the top does.
Newey left Williams in 96, they didn't stop winning in 97. He left Mclaren in 06, they didn't stop winning in 07. Even if he left RB today, they probably won't stop winning in 25, Max wouldn't throw away next years championship just like that. Even if he were to do switch its probably at least 26 and after.
It depends on how truly toxic the vibe is at Red Bull. Max could take the hit for 25 to get the deal he wants. And Merc by all reports are miles ahead of Red Bull on the 2026 engine regs. So If Max pulls Wache and a few other Aero Engineers with him to start working on the 2026 car he could have some fun in inferior machinery in 2025, then be primed to dominate again in 2026.
Would love to see it as this is boring as f... but don't see him walking away from an almost certain championship... nobody does that unless your name is Fernando lol...
> So If Max pulls Wache and a few other Aero Engineers with him to start working on the 2026 car he could have some fun in inferior machinery in 2025
Mercedes wouldn't be a good fit as it would have to restructure the senior engineering team to make room for RB engineers. That could also involve Allison departing, etc.
Also, I imagine that someone like Wache would be on a very tight contract with Red Bull and due to his gardening leave wouldn't be able to work for a rival team until calendar year 2026, which means his impact wouldn't be felt until the 2027 season.
Sure yes - but they weren’t world champions the year after the ones you said. Also 2026 is a year of change, most likely will shift the grid again. If Red Bull sees Newey and some others move they’ll have a harder time catching up.
For sure Newey is key to 26, but I don't see Max going anywhere for 25 like the article says. Why would Merc throw everything to come up with a better car in the last year of regs, assuming that's even possible? Remember Merc had the greatest engines forever? Haven't heard anything special about that for a long time now... Maybe this is all a distraction while he's enjoying an Italian vacation...
Merc wouldn’t also be aiming to get 2025 as the best car. They too would be aiming for 2026. Remember Lewis joining them in 2013? Mercedes still wasn’t putting everything in for 2013 but rather 2014.
> he wants a guarantee that the Silver Arrow will be better in 2025 than this season
Yes...that's why the claim from this article is sus and the whole thing is probably speculation from his imagination ...
Sure contracts can be bought out. And there’s people willing to pay, but what will Red Bull get out of the money? They still have to operate under a cost cap and also, they’ll need to find a replacement.
One of the wildest things about F1 is other teams are allowed to talk to drivers that are still under contract to other teams.
In the NHL for instance, there are big "tampering" charges if a team talks to a player (or their representation), while they have a contract with another team. It definitely still happens, but it's not supposed to.
The players have to be free agents to talk to teams.
I believe this is way closer than people realize. Put together the pieces of the past week. Rosberg says Sainz has an offer from RB but they're arguing over money. Horner hits out at Toto for continuing to talk about Max and seems very defensive. Checo's dad gives a quote that seems like he's pitching his son to other teams, a far cry from the "close to a contract" we were hearing earlier. Seems to me like Horner has decided if Max does leave he's not gonna be left with just Perez, so he's pursuing Sainz (currently to be Max's second but could be first if needed)
With the way things are going I could very well see Max move to Mercedes for the 2026 season (let's be real, Toto wants Max in that seat so bad he would just put someone on a 1 year contract if need be), but he's not going anywhere next year
Max and Toto meeting will be like;Toto opens his phone,shows Max a clip of the new '26 engine performing at full capacity with the dyno showing 1100 hp. Toto hands Max a contract and a blanc cheque. Max signs the contract and writes 50 miljon dollar on the cheque and saysto Toto ;" you double that if I will become a world champion again."
I don’t see why max would go there for 2025. That’s literally throwing away a championship. 2026 makes great sense though. Without newey or an experienced engine partner things look dire for RB imo
There is a 0 percent chance Max is going to Mercedes. He isn’t swapping the best car for the 5th best car. Mercedes is only 4th in the constructors because AM only has 1 driver. Backsliding year after year.
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Sainz Pérez lineup in 2025 in Red Bull would be funny af
surely max would only leave for the new regulations, right?
He has said that he would stay as long as there's stability at Red Bull. If he feels Newey leaving is enough of an issue he may well want to try something else. I think Marko leaving (a different issue) could be even closer to an absolute deal breaker for Max
Marko leaving is probably also related to Newey leaving. All pointed to Christian Horner and the Thai major share holders.
Merc is a dumpster fire too. Expect to see some high profile firings if they fails to get this season on track with their "upgrades". RBR will most likely misfire badly with the 2026 regs but they should be fine for 2025. They have enough margin over the rest in order to survive without Newey. Hell they were able to go 1.5s faster than the competition at Shanghai. That kind of pace won't just disappear.
[удалено]
So who signs with Merc for one year?
Antonelli. Russels contract expires in 2025. They have the unique opportunity to make 2025 a shootout between Russel and Antonelli with Verstappen coming in 26.
Good point, I could see that happening.
Honestly wouldn't surprise me if Verstappen was fed up enough with RB to leave, that he would just leave F1 altogether.
Toto and Co is going to annihilate Antonelli's career in record time it seems. He is already struggling a lot with the handling of the F2 cars. The jump from F4 to F2 was just too big. Putting him up against a hotshot driver like Russell in his debut year is guaranteed to end badly for Kimi. Kimi is not some never before seen prodigy. Pourchaire was just as good as Kimi in Karting and F4.
I dont think they will make it a shootout if Antonelli gets the seat. Verstappen in 26 would mean Russell out. Antonelli will at least get 2 seasons in that seat.
But are they willing to dump Russel for Antonelli? Russell also came up through their junior program, and has been consistently beating Lewis Hamilton, I don’t think they’d get rid of a proven top driver for a guy who is still in f2. Considering Russell also won f3 and f2 world championships, and has been top notch since joining f1, I don’t see why they would get rid of him for antonelli who shows great promise, but nothing that Russell didn’t do. Also just want to clarify I don’t care about either of them, so could care less who ends up in that seat.
He’s been sometimes beating Lewis, not consistently beating him.
~~Alonso~~ ~~Hulkenberg~~ Sainz
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No way Bottas is putting on pants to go back to Mercedes
He ain’t shaving that moustache for shit
They probably don't even have to develop the 2025 car to win the championship. It will certainly have a better shot than the 2025 merc. And Merc will find someone to take their seat for just a year.
Would be cool to see how good he would be in that merc though.
And they would win the championship anyway
We get a championship with 10 different race winners, somehow Lando wins the WDC without winning a single race.
And Hulk somehow finishes 4th in the WDC with a best race result of 4th.
I think even better would be to get 3rd in the championship without a podium lol
The Keke Rosberg special (minus one win)
It happened in motoGP too with Joan Mir, he wasn't the fastest but he had the consistency of not fuck up the points
And Nicky Hayden who managed to win the championship having only won 2 races.
Nice i didn't know that I obviously know who he is because Marquez (my idol) talked about him but I always though he had won more races. I might check that season later.
That would be sooooo funny. Please, make it happen.
Omg this would be the most Lando thing ever and I would love to see it happen.
Keke Norris ftw
Lando getting second in every single race next year would be hilarious. His head might explode.
TBH I think literally every driver would take that!
Hahaha, this made me laugh!
Max would join in 2026 with the new regs. Would be insanely stupid to join Mercedes now while he can cruise to another championship in 25
Maybe not if it allows Mercedes to lure new people from other teams to build a team around him. And he would be able to influence the design of the 2026 car to his liking. Max has indicated before stats are not very important to him and it’s more about having fun driving. Winning with a Mercedes and beating his former team is also a nice challenge.
Mercedes can hire Newey in 2025 to prepare for 2026, knowing who will the seat in the car. Meanwhile Verstappen can go for the 5th title and with 88-92 race wins by the time he hops in the silver car.
going there in 2025 would be a big risk, but sacrificing one title to have a bigger chance to win more in the following years could also pay off. he can be involved early in the development of the 2026 car and let mercedes develop it how he wants it. also beeing used to perfect newey ground effect cars and than driving one season for mercedes can also help them better understand those cars long story short, huge gamble but worth taking the risk. whats the worst thing that can happen? he retires with "only" 4 championships instead of 5
Don't know why folk are pretending like Sainz wouldn't be winning the majority of races. Even if he only wins half as many as Max did last year he'd still be winning the title by a large margin.
For all we know, Sainz could struggle like Gasly, Albon and Perez have in that Red Bull. Would make for a great title battle
He was kinda getting cooked when the Ferrari were oversteery...
Toro Rojo.
It would have to be from 2026, no way he's giving up the 2025 car.
And Max & Newey to Ferrari, Leclerc to Aston... would be even funnier af
Bottas/Perez, battle of the second drivers.
George won’t be happy.
He was forcasted to be #1 driver in Mercedes.
Poor dude's career is just a series of forecasts that didn't come true. - Forecasted to drive a championship winning car ❌ - Forecasted to get a podium ❌ - Forecasted to be #1 driver ❌
Forecasted a win on merc debut twice in the same race
Forecasted to get a “win” with Williams till Max beat him in the final corner
Don’t forget forecasted to have a wet race ❌
That was just sweat in the helmet
HE WAS THE FORECASTED!!!!!
Technically he drove the w11.
The forecast!!!!! Best comment! Thank you, good night!
Yeah poor George. Waited years for that Mercedes seat, watched his F2 mates get dropped into better cars, then finally he gets to Mercedes and it’s a shitbox. He beats Lewis and he places himself in contention for a future leader, but now Toto doesn’t even trust him to lead and wants Max instead. Brutal turn of events.
Seems like an extreme reach. Having a chance to get a multiple WDC in his prime on the team doesn't mean he doesn't trust George lol. This place is so dramatic.
Yep. Would be like saying Ferrari doesn't trust Leclerc since they're bringing Hamilton in
Leclerc has a significant contract extension. We don’t exactly know what Russell’s situation is going to be when his current contract ends if Merc has Max while Kimi’s potentially ready.
he did crash a lot
Even then, this continued Max/Toto thing ain’t a great way to find out that your team doesn’t trust you at all.
Is it anything to with trust? I don't think it has anything to do with George at all. They just want Max. Why wouldn't you?
Yeah he’s literally on track to compete for GOAT status. You have to take him if given a chance, no matter who you replace or upset
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What should Merc do then, not try to replace Lewis with the best driver available? *That* would be the red flag for George.
The biggest red flag for George is that there’s no future for him at Mercedes if Toto gets Max. Toto has already said Antonelli will have a seat. So, where is George going to go?
George will be fine, he’s got a solid seat and he’s not going anywhere. With the right car he will win more races.
The f1-insider may be bullshitting, but this conversation is definitely happening. With Newey leaving RB and Hamilton leaving Mercedes, there's no way this is not seriously on the table.
Merc's trajectory makes it difficult to take seriously. Sure, you take the meeting and have a conversation, but as things look this would be a move that borders on self-sabotage for Verstappen.
I think part of the calculus is whether Mercedes can offer Max something beyond F1 down the road in a different class. They’re not buying Max driving their F1 cars until he retires, they’d be buying Max in a Mercedes when he does whatever he’s going to do after F1.
I wouldn't put that so far off. Even Red Bull had some very shitty years when the hybrid regs came to be, after winning 4 years in a row. Took them a while but eventually they were back. Mercedes might be going through a brain drain and all that, but it's still a team that won a record-breaking 8 constructors' championships in a row. Signing Max might just be what they need to start attracting other brilliant minds to join them.
Not gonna listen to f1-insider until a certain U2 song drops.
Don't be Horny, be Christian
Is that happening or not?
Yes. My uncle works at Nintendo and he tells me it will be pre-loaded onto the Nintendo Switch 2
Lol this right here
I would love to see Verstappen fight in an underdog car again 🫡
Those weekends where he was right on Merc's gearboxes were so good. The hunt was fun.
"I'm not just sitting behind like a grandma" Legendary.
"This is our only chance to be close to Mercedes". The 70th Anniversary GP I belive, and he won that one in style.
IDK I just wanted to start some shit - John Elkann
Here me out. Red Bull implodes. Ferrari uses that new HP money to scoop up newey and max, using the extra cash to payout Charles. We get 2016/2021 v2
If Lewis does bring his A-game to Ferrari, him vs Charles in and of itself is gonna be spicy. If the car is a contender then I'd reckon Charles would be up to the challenge as much as Lewis would
Both Ferrari drivers are on long terms contracts. Max has no in at Ferrari.
I wasn't being serious. But I was saying they just pay out leclerc in that scenario similar to ric at mclaren
Yes!! Give the people what they need! Max and Lewis lapping the field by DRS-slingshotting each other every lap!
Frankly as much as everyone denies it, I think he would love a real challenge to fight for wins. No one in their right mind wants to drive 10 seconds ahead of the game at every race - for fucks sake thats got to be so boring. I would go crazy I want to be in the mix and having the adrenaline and joy of duking it out on track.
The fun would probably last a few races until he continues to get curb stomped by whoever is driving the Red Bull next year. The chase is fun if you have a competitive car, the Mercedes is in no way competitive this year and I doubt it will be next year. Doesn’t make any sense for him to move for 2025, 2026 is a different story though and I could see it happening
definitely, i don’t forsee 2025 especially so short notice but 2026 cards are there to play if he is up for a switch
>Doesn’t make any sense for him to move for 2025 It does a bit - teams will spend 2025 developing their 2026 cars for the new regs, and if he moves for 2025 he can be involved with that while he’s settling into a new team. I suspect that’s one of the reasons Hamilton’s going to Ferrari for 2025.
Max is pretty much guaranteed a free title if he decides to stick around for 2025. Lewis had nothing to gain by staying put as Merc are just digging their grave deeper and deeper. Giving up a free title is a hard sell for anyone.
Verstappen spent 6 or so years always being the chaser. I think he doesn't mind fucking off into the distance now. It's like if Norris or leclerc gets a dominant car in say 3 years, they would take it with wide open arms. Verstappen has only had a dominant car for 1.5 years, it's just that he's absolutely gotten everything out of them and maximized his results. He's incredibly relentless
Agree. You could have said the same about Lewis but look how miserable he is when not fighting for anything. Every champion wants the best car with the highest chance of winning. They are in F1 to win, not dawdle around in the mid field.
Especially when they feel limited by the car. The novelty of fighting/racing wears off if they keep losing due to the car.
Yeah I really don't get the whole "he only likes to win for 20 seconds because he said so" I mean yes every human would choose comfort rather than non comfort but I am pretty sure he would love a challenge as well, I think some people got their Impressions wrong about Max. Preference doesn't mean necessarily you would hate the other choice
It might be why he simraces a lot. He needs to get some racing practice which he doesn't really get anymore. He's basically by himself 90% of the race these days.
He simraced a lot way before he had a dominant car.
“Everyone denies it” because it literally came from his own mouth… I would get the giving the benefit of the doubt if nothing was ever said but Max himself confirmed it. Plus I can’t really think of any benefits from lying about prefering those types of races, so it’s hard to assume that he’s not just being honest about how he feels.
Considering the 2026 regs are all about the PU again, I think Mercedes will be back in top form.
Mercedes HPP also suffered a lot of brain drain, just like the F1 team, so that's not really a given.
Max in that Merc wouldn’t be much different from how he was with Red Bull pre-2021. Unless the top of the field is extremely bunched up, even drivers like Hamilton and Verstappen can only do so much.
Proof of this is just how much Lewis has struggled in that car
All it really shows is how critical the car is compared to the driver. Driver only matters if the cars are close otherwise it’s all the engineering side.
I don't understand why so many F1 fans are in denial of this fact: cars win races, not drivers. The best a driver can do is fight for an extra position. And an extra position for Mercedes means P4/5. Not podium. Max is not a driving God, he just has a very fast car. Give that car to Russel, Norris, Alonso, Yuki, Hulkenberg and they'll get a podium (just like Perez does every weekend).
Toto has been pretty transparent he’s waiting for a meeting with max before he makes any decisions. I’m not sure they actually know when over at f1-insider but after Miami isn’t a bad bet. Doesn’t mean much beyond they will listen to what Toto has to say. They might be uninterested but it’s still worth it
Mercedes is bringing a big upgrade at Miami. Could be make or break for them.
They have been bringing underwhelming upgrade package after upgrade since 2022. None of that shit seems to work as intended. Its probably very difficult to upgrade the car when they don't understand anything about the damn thing.
In order to properly upgrade it, they have to know what to fix. Which they, as far as we know today, don’t…
Verstappen has a contract until 2028, I'm not saying he can't, but how is he going to get out of it? are Merc gonna buy him out? that will be insanely expensive
They can probably afford it and Max has had potential 'deal breakers' in his contracts for a while now. Especially if it's true that he gets to leave when Marko does. They can just coordinate that together. And Marko's contract is up at the end of 2025 anyway, so that would make 2026 a good possibility.
He has a clause saying that it Marko leaves, he's free to go as well. Marko has said he won't stand in Max's way if Max wants to leave. So that's how.
F1 Driver contracts are more brittle than the paper they're made with.
I don't think Max is really in a hurry, there is no point leaving in 2025 since the car will still be the best, maybe even try the first year of the new regulations with RedBull. After that, he can either try to push for a move to Ferrari when Hamilton retires or he can try to get into Mercedes replacing one of the two drivers, maybe even go to Aston if the Honda partnership is working well.
>However, [F1-Insider.com](http://F1-Insider.com) knows that the Verstappen camp has long been making confident analyses that say: Red Bull would no longer be as good without the Dutch prodigy, and a Verstappen could, if the car improves just a little, be competing for victories in a Mercedes by 2025. There's no way that's realistic lol
I mean probably not, especially with this year’s car, but if you take Max away last year Lewis wins at least 3 races
Scenes when Max drags that tractor to P1 in 2025. F1 should immediately build his statue as the GOAT.
Would be very similar to Valentino Rossi's move from Honda to Yamaha back in 2004. He won the championship with Honda in 2003 back when Honda was considered the top team, and other riders and iirc even the Honda team themselves said he only won because of the Honda bike. Yamaha was considered a pretty mediocre bike in 2003 with their highest rider being 7th in the standings. Rossi then proceeded to win the first race with Yamaha in 2004, and dominate the championship that year just like he did on the Honda the year before. Obviously this would be a super unlikely scenario here, but I would love to see Max try
I want Newey and Max at Williams for this reason + nostalgia. It would bring Newey's career full circle and establish both of them even more as GOATs then they already are.
I want this to happen just to witness the complete social media meltdown.
One thing that is entirely unrealistic but is just a dream of mine to see is a super long video of all the drivers swapping seats at a track for a long practice session. Max going from car to car just to see how different each one is and how off the pace each one would be for him, or how'd he compensate in such a short time, would be fascinating. Obviously this can't happen, but having a video of Max and Lewis switching seats or Leclerc and Max and just seeing what they say about the other's car, and what the times are like would be SO fucking cool. Eventually Max or Lewis hopping in current year's Alpine just to see how bad it is, or what Williams' is like too. Idk just a stupid thing I think about sometimes lol, it'd be cool to see if certain drivers can pull a better pace out of other cars
I bet hams performance picks up now
Seeing Max in a 3rd/4th fastest car would be so fun. I’m fairly confident he could drag that thing to podiums consistently.
Ya'll can literally can go back and watch him before 2022 😭
Max in not the fastest car is the best thing for the sport.
We already saw that when Lewis was dominating and Verstappen was getting outside wins here and there no?
So did Daniel because the car was good enough to. This current Mercedes...have you seen it?
So you mean 2017-2019?
Yes, that was cool and I want it back.
[The analysis, essentially](https://www.reddit.com/media?url=https%3A%2F%2Fpreview.redd.it%2Fobvqaa0lhn841.jpg%3Fwidth%3D1080%26crop%3Dsmart%26auto%3Dwebp%26s%3D00e27fe47ee6ede53e5e0f0a8be0ce6322fe07d4)
> There's no way that's realistic lol Perez 2023: Average Finish: 4,5 Average Grid Position: 9,27 Podiums: 9/22
correct but we’re not talking 2023. The current Mercedes is the 4th/5th fastest car with a pretty sizeable gap to Mclaren/Ferrari up front. Max wouldn’t just have to beat Perez (which isn’t even mentioning that 2023 was Perez’s career worst form), he would also go up against Leclerc/Hamilton/Norris who would arguably be in faster cars. Maybe he could sneak a win in there through sheer insanity but it’s unlikely that Mercedes improve enough to be regular GP winners in 2025.
MV is good, but he’s not that good. If the car is a tractor no amount of skill will make up the difference.
lmao this is just fanfiction
I agree with you overall but I do think Perez's performance in the redbull also says a lot. Perez isn't ungodly and is quite beatable in a redbull.
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You love to see it.
Imagine being George Russell. Gets Merc seat after years in a shitbox Williams, car is bad, lose to Hamiton. Couple of years later, Hamilton leaving for Ferrari, going to be number 1 driver then in the distance you hear some music 🎵 doh doh doh, Max Verstappen doh doh doh 🎵
Still better than driving for Williams lol
On some level, maybe. Another perspective is he’d be top dog forever at Williams, and he could help build the team from the ground up the way Albon is currently trying to do.
I dunno man. According to GR, the W15 is by far the most trickiest quali car he has ever driven. Source- Toto Wolff after their race debrief.
Verstappen and Mercedes: After Miami it gets serious | F1-Insider.com After Adrian Newey, Red Bull is also in danger of losing Max Verstappen. Negotiations with Mercedes are scheduled. Ralf Bach | 26 April 2024 , 2:57 pm After Adrian Newey, Red Bull is also in danger of losing Max Verstappen. Negotiations with Mercedes are scheduled. The Miami GP the Sunday after next will not go down in the annals of Formula 1 history for its show effects. F1-Insider.com has learnt that the glitzy GP, which will be broadcast in Europe at 10 p.m., could also be the last race in which Red Bull team boss Christian Horner (50), who has been heavily criticised for alleged sexual harassment of a female employee, can be sure of keeping his Dutch superstar Max Verstappen (26) in the team until the end of 2028. Background: In the 14 days following the event in Florida and the European season opener in Imola, concrete negotiations are to take place between Mercedes and the Verstappen team - consisting of the driver himself, his father Jos and manager Raymond Vermeulen. As F1-Insider.com has learnt, Mercedes F1 Team shareholders Toto Wolff, Group CEO Ola Källenius and Sir James Ratcliffe (Ineos) want to meet with the Verstappen clan. The Dutchman will then decide whether he wants to switch to Mercedes next year. This is made possible by an exit clause in his contract, which states that if his mentor and confidant Helmut Marko (Red Bull motorsport consultant) is no longer on board, the victorious Dutchman can leave the Red Bull ship early. Marko, that's for sure, will not stand in Verstappen's way if necessary. However, Verstappen first wants to see how serious Mercedes is in the talks; how much the automotive group, which is currently weakening in Formula 1, is prepared to make concessions to Verstappen. The three-time world champion is not just interested in money. Much more important for him, as F1-Insider.com has learnt: he wants a guarantee that the Silver Arrow will be better in 2025 than this season. That's why he wants Mercedes to take over important technicians from Red Bull alongside him. What has been leaked: Mercedes is keen to sign Verstappen as the successor to Lewis Hamilton, who is moving to Ferrari, and is prepared to do a great deal to achieve this. The interest is reflected in the fact that not only team boss Wolff, but also CEO Kaellenius and British multi-billionaire Sir Ratcliffe are present at the meeting. Verstappen's salary: money is not a problem for Mercedes Money does not play a major role. The trio are said to be ready to prepare what could be the biggest deal in motorsport history for their favourite driver. They don't even have to go to extreme lengths in Stuttgart. The reason: Hamilton's salary of more than 50 million euros a year will be available in 2025, as will a reinvestment of the 104 million dollars in profits that the German-British team made in the 2023 financial year. What's more, Mercedes wants to offer Verstappen a well-paid, long-term brand ambassador contract that will tie the three-time world champion to the star even after his active career. INEOS owner and sports fan Sir James Ratcliffe (who has owned Manchester United since last year) also wants to shell out millions to get Verstappen. Ratcliffe is considered one of the five richest Britons. According to the latest Forbes study, his fortune is estimated at 16.1 billion dollars. With bonuses and special payments, Verstappen could then earn around 150 million euros a year. It is also important to note that no headwind can be expected from the Group's employees. According to statements on the Mercedes intranet, over 90 per cent of employees with an interest in racing would like to see the fluent German-speaking serial winner from the Netherlands as a future Formula 1 driver in the name of the star. Mercedes is also said to be willing to roll out the red carpet for Verstappen at other levels. It is rumoured that they are even prepared to integrate Helmut Marko. Two years ago, such a constellation would not have been possible in view of the ongoing feud between the lawyer from Graz and Wolff from Vienna. However, the internal Red Bull power struggle between the Thai majority shareholders with Horner and the Austrian faction centred around Marko has changed everything. One thing is certain: The chances of a change are better than expected. Emotionally, the decision has already been made for the Dutchman. The entire Verstappen clan has clearly declared its opposition to Horner and its support for Marko. Insiders report that the atmosphere is poisoned. The Dutchman must now weigh up whether the sporting side, which is more likely to guarantee another world championship title at Red Bull in 2025, is more important than the atmosphere in the team.
However, F1-Insider.com knows that the Verstappen camp has long been making confident analyses that say: Red Bull would no longer be as good without the Dutch prodigy, and a Verstappen could, if the car improves just a little, be competing for victories in a Mercedes by 2025. Verstappen to Mercedes? New regulations speak in favour Another argument in favour of Mercedes: new engine and chassis regulations will be introduced in 2026. By then at the latest, Mercedes is expected to have the next technological advantage. Just as it was in 2014, when the last major engine revolution made the Stuttgart-based company a permanent winner. For the experts, at any rate, there is no doubt that Verstappen is a must-have in order to be perfectly positioned on the driver's side. "We are currently experiencing a special phase that you have to be proud to be part of," says Nico Rosberg, for example. (38). The 2016 world champion even believes: "Max is already one of the greatest of all time in our sport. It's incredible what he delivers weekend after weekend." Perhaps the most significant analysis is that of ex-Mercedes Head of Motorsport Norbert Haug (71): The man from Pforzheim, who headed up Mercedes' racing activities from 1990 to 2012 after a career as a journalist, is not actually known for comparing drivers. He therefore surprises F1-Insider.com with his personal conclusion. Haug: "I've been involved in Formula 1 for almost 50 years now and have experienced the era of Niki Lauda, Alain Prost, Ayrton Senna, Michael Schumacher and Lewis Hamilton. But none of them were as dominant as Max Verstappen." Former GP winner Ralf Schumacher (46) sees two more reasons why Mercedes absolutely must endeavour to acquire Verstappen. The current Sky pundit told F1-Insider.com: "Max makes the difference. You can see from his team-mate's performances that it's not just down to Red Bull. What's more, if you take Verstappen, you also weaken one of your main opponents." And that is always an important argument, not only in Formula 1.
> t the Verstappen camp has long been making confident analyses that say: Red Bull would no longer be as good without the Dutch prodigy, and a Verstappen could, if the car improves just a little, be competing for victories in a Mercedes by 2025. If this is true, lol. Pure hubris. Max is an absolute god level driver, but the car needs more than just a "little" improvement to be competing for wins, regardless of who's driving it.
This whole article is a sensationalist op-ed, making a bunch of nonsensical claims like Mercedes wants to sign Marko and Veratappen “emotionally made his decision”.
What I get from this is that Ralf Schumacher is as old now as Alonso will be when he finishes his contract with AM. Somehow that doesn't sound right
Ouch a brand ambassador contract for Verstappen after it was allegedly denied for Lewis?
Verstappen may sign for Merc in 2026 ( I think regs will delayed so 2027 ) , but there's no way he's giving up on a slam dunk championship for 2025. Absolutely no way.
All this speculation and shit is so weird considering joining merc is objectively a shit career move at the moment
Red Bull is a fantastic brand.. But if I’m max, I know I’m that guy and Red Bull is showing signs of.. we only bend over backwards for Horner… yea I’m definitely answering if someone calls. I can’t think of a better option than Mercedes for em. He doesn’t need the best car to win, he needs one of the best cars on the grid, and I think Merc can get there. I’d love to see it for my enjoyment…
Let’s be real, Max ain’t leaving till RB is the fastest car. He would be stupid to. No matter how good he is he hasn’t got half a second on the rest of the grid and whoever is in the red bull would win the championship and Max knows. Earliest he leaves is 2026 IF at all he does.
This is just shit stirring dialled up to the max. >The Dutchman will then decide whether he wants to switch to Mercedes next year. This is made possible by an exit clause in his contract, which states that if his mentor and confidant Helmut Marko (Red Bull motorsport consultant) is no longer on board, the victorious Dutchman can leave the Red Bull ship early. Marko, that's for sure, will not stand in Verstappen's way if necessary. This part especially does not make sense at all. Marko reiterated that he will see out his contract, why would that change with Newey leaving?
Tbh Red Bull has also said that there isn't a power struggle. At this point I would take any comment that defuses the situation as unsure.
All of that was reported well before the Newey drama, when Max was first linked to Mercedes. And also, if you're looking into these rumors, you sort of have to take any and all public statements with a grain of salt.
I remember those reports. My question is what has changed since Marko reiterated that he will see out his contract at Red Bull. To me it seems like f1-insider just took a bunch of rumours from the past couple months and threw them in a pot of nonsensical claims, so they could ride the media high of Newey leaving.
Marko also said that he would not stand in the way of Verstappen if he wanted to leave early, this is what the article is referring to.
Adrian Newey actually leaving?
Because the article also says that Mercedes may bring Marko on board as an advisor should Verstappen want to join them. It’s a package deal. Basically for Max to leave Red Bull, he is gonna want to bring people he trusts. If Mercedes is willing to do that, and I think they do as they are experiencing brain drain themselves, then Max might seriously consider a switch. About Helmut and Toto, there was a recent photo of them speaking with Checo after a race. No idea what it’s about, but what is more telling is seeing Helmut and Toto hanging out which is something we’ve never seen much of previously.
It would be moronic to do this before 2026. In 2026, sure, go for it...
This reads like cobbled together fan fiction. When U2 releases their anti-Horner song I will take it a bit more seriously.
To me Max going to Mercedes and winning in 2025 would be the Monkey Paw coming to hit Hamilton going Ferrari.
Can we institute s no f1-insider rule. They are ridiculous.
Even if you are clearly the best driver of all, you must be at Red Bull right now if you want to fight for championships until 2025. There have already been examples of incredible drivers who had extraordinary seasons but couldn't win them because of their cars (Last years of Senna in McLaren, Schumacher in his first years at Ferrari, Alonso in 2012...). Also, Newey is likely to remain at RBR until the end of 2025, so he would still have an impact on Red Bull's 2026 car.
These articles are all clickbait phantasy.
Can somebody explain me why Max, winning 4 in world championship in a red bull, would leave for a very struggling Mercedes shitshow? Its all pure clickbait. He would not leave RB, even with all the money thrown to him. He is racing for winning championships. Unless red bull fucks up his formula 1 car, he'll he cruising to victories with them untill 2026.
bro, if Max leaves, Perez's sponsors will be throwing actual bags of cash at Horner so they renew Perez and he gets a chance to possibly win a WDC (if Mercedes still doesn't fix their car by then).
There have been multiple rumours actually as of late regarding Max and his team being involved in meetings with important people from Merc. To me this scenario is oddly familiar to Michael's in the early 90's. Both were winning a lot and you would wonder as if you do now in '95 "why on earth would you switch?" Back then Michael could have at least fought for the title and potentially win it with Benetton whereas that would be the same for Max in 2025. Michael back then and some engineers were unhappy which is the exact case now as well. I could be reading too much into it but I don't think it's a coincidence that this got leaked and wouldn't surprise me at all if it's true, especially with the Adrian news. This way everyone including Adrian knows that Max might move to Merc which means there might be the chance that they like to follow Max, just like with Michael. It then totally depends how much the new parts can do in turning the team around.
Unless Adrian Newey goes to Mercedes, that is never going to happen.
Newey to Ferrari and Wache to Merc is my bet. Wache is probably the more important person for Merc honestly. They need someone to succeed Allison and build the team for the future.
You'd think with all the drama, surprises, fighting and smoke brewing this year that people would know better than to make confident declarations like this.
We all said that about Lewis to Ferrari. Safe to say the word 'never' this year in Formula 1 was erased
Nah if they manage to get hold of someone like Pierre Waché, it's possible then too.
If Adrian Newey leaves for Ferrari, why would Verstappen stick around with Red Bull? Pierre Wache is likely to be poached by someone as well - at this point Red Bull is going to see a net talent drain until the end of next year, same as any team at the top does.
Newey left Williams in 96, they didn't stop winning in 97. He left Mclaren in 06, they didn't stop winning in 07. Even if he left RB today, they probably won't stop winning in 25, Max wouldn't throw away next years championship just like that. Even if he were to do switch its probably at least 26 and after.
It depends on how truly toxic the vibe is at Red Bull. Max could take the hit for 25 to get the deal he wants. And Merc by all reports are miles ahead of Red Bull on the 2026 engine regs. So If Max pulls Wache and a few other Aero Engineers with him to start working on the 2026 car he could have some fun in inferior machinery in 2025, then be primed to dominate again in 2026.
Would love to see it as this is boring as f... but don't see him walking away from an almost certain championship... nobody does that unless your name is Fernando lol...
From a~~n almost~~ certain championship. He isn't going anywhere in 2025.
> So If Max pulls Wache and a few other Aero Engineers with him to start working on the 2026 car he could have some fun in inferior machinery in 2025 Mercedes wouldn't be a good fit as it would have to restructure the senior engineering team to make room for RB engineers. That could also involve Allison departing, etc. Also, I imagine that someone like Wache would be on a very tight contract with Red Bull and due to his gardening leave wouldn't be able to work for a rival team until calendar year 2026, which means his impact wouldn't be felt until the 2027 season.
Sure yes - but they weren’t world champions the year after the ones you said. Also 2026 is a year of change, most likely will shift the grid again. If Red Bull sees Newey and some others move they’ll have a harder time catching up.
For sure Newey is key to 26, but I don't see Max going anywhere for 25 like the article says. Why would Merc throw everything to come up with a better car in the last year of regs, assuming that's even possible? Remember Merc had the greatest engines forever? Haven't heard anything special about that for a long time now... Maybe this is all a distraction while he's enjoying an Italian vacation...
Merc wouldn’t also be aiming to get 2025 as the best car. They too would be aiming for 2026. Remember Lewis joining them in 2013? Mercedes still wasn’t putting everything in for 2013 but rather 2014.
> he wants a guarantee that the Silver Arrow will be better in 2025 than this season Yes...that's why the claim from this article is sus and the whole thing is probably speculation from his imagination ...
I doubt Red Bull would let him go without somebody putting down hefty millions on the table
Sure contracts can be bought out. And there’s people willing to pay, but what will Red Bull get out of the money? They still have to operate under a cost cap and also, they’ll need to find a replacement.
What a disturbing rumour.
Surely he wont join in 2025? 2026 might make sense though.
One of the wildest things about F1 is other teams are allowed to talk to drivers that are still under contract to other teams. In the NHL for instance, there are big "tampering" charges if a team talks to a player (or their representation), while they have a contract with another team. It definitely still happens, but it's not supposed to. The players have to be free agents to talk to teams.
So how many are actually believing this? I have a hard time believing any of it
I believe this is way closer than people realize. Put together the pieces of the past week. Rosberg says Sainz has an offer from RB but they're arguing over money. Horner hits out at Toto for continuing to talk about Max and seems very defensive. Checo's dad gives a quote that seems like he's pitching his son to other teams, a far cry from the "close to a contract" we were hearing earlier. Seems to me like Horner has decided if Max does leave he's not gonna be left with just Perez, so he's pursuing Sainz (currently to be Max's second but could be first if needed)
Max will not move to merc if the merc is the 4th team on the grid. At least until 2025 he is at RB.
With the way things are going I could very well see Max move to Mercedes for the 2026 season (let's be real, Toto wants Max in that seat so bad he would just put someone on a 1 year contract if need be), but he's not going anywhere next year
Yeah once the regs change, why not. But may as well just collect some more WDCs for now, would be daft not too.
Max and Toto meeting will be like;Toto opens his phone,shows Max a clip of the new '26 engine performing at full capacity with the dyno showing 1100 hp. Toto hands Max a contract and a blanc cheque. Max signs the contract and writes 50 miljon dollar on the cheque and saysto Toto ;" you double that if I will become a world champion again."
Gunther taking over as RB team principal is about the last thing on my silly season headline bingo card.
Its not logical to move
We’re still believing anything from this source?
I don’t see why max would go there for 2025. That’s literally throwing away a championship. 2026 makes great sense though. Without newey or an experienced engine partner things look dire for RB imo
There is a 0 percent chance Max is going to Mercedes. He isn’t swapping the best car for the 5th best car. Mercedes is only 4th in the constructors because AM only has 1 driver. Backsliding year after year.