Red Bull team boss Laurent Mekies says he isn’t worried about the prospect of Max Verstappen leaving Formula 1 early. The Dutchman appeared, during the first test week in Bahrain, to openly question his future in the sport’s top tier when he criticised the new F1 cars. Verstappen himself has, however, also confirmed he is ‘simply going to carry on’.
Max Verstappen was critical last week of the new Formula 1 cars. The Dutchman called them ‘Formula 1 on steroids,’ and even cast doubt over his future in the pinnacle of the sport. “If you’ve already won everything, then you don’t really need it anymore,” Verstappen said. “There are a lot of other fun things I can do and will do. This doesn’t help me want to continue for very long.”
Red Bull team boss Laurent Mekies, however, is not worried about an early exit by the Dutch driver, who is under contract with the Austrian outfit through 2028. “The short answer to that question is no — zero concerns about it,” the Frenchman told Motorsport.com. “And yes, I remember our conversations from last year clearly, when he was switching from one car model to another, so from the 2025 model to the 2026 in the simulator. And yes, the difference was so big that at one point, and rightly so I think, he decided to focus on the ’25 car’.”
“But the reality is that the challenges of this new regulation are enormous,” the Frenchman continued. “It’s huge for the teams, huge for the engine manufacturers and huge for the drivers. It’s different for all of us. But that’s what we enjoy — trying to work through these challenges, and trying to find solutions we thought were impossible. That’s what we’ll do with Max’s help.”
Verstappen gaat gewoon door
Verstappen himself confirms to De Telegraaf that he has no plans to quit motorsport just yet. “Everything would have to turn out very, very negatively for that to happen, but that’s not the case. I’m just carrying on,” the world champion said. “If I don’t like something, it doesn’t mean I don’t want to do it. As a purist or car enthusiast, would I have preferred the regulations to be different? Yes. But I also know this is how it is and that I always want to get the maximum out of it.”
