With the Liam shenagigans going on at Red Bull, there being more talk about all not being well within the team, more 'crisis'-meetings being planned between the technical team and Horner, Helmut and the Verstappen camp to address the current issues with the car and the way forward (including 2026), etc. rumours and talk is starting to surface again about Max leaving the team.
Do you believe that Max will leave Red Bull Racing and if so when and to which team or racing series?
With McLaren and Ferrari having their drivers locked in, all the talk centers around Mercedes - with the rumoured best 2026 engine - and Aston Martin - with Adrian Newey and Honda.
However, for 2026 I have reservations seeing this happen:
- At Mercedes, Wolff has his 'next Verstappen'. If he really has that belief in and aboutt Kimi - which he very much sounds to fully have - I fail to see why he would want Max in the car, either next to or in place of Kimi?
Why would he put Kimi up against the guy he believes Kimi will be(come) better than? Kimi being beaten will damage the narrative of the super talent, and if it's to show Kimi's better, I fail to see how that would be worth tens of millions in salary to Max since they have a more than decent and capable driver in Russell already. Getting the upper hand over George would already be enough to cement Kimi's skills.
- At Aston Martin we all know why it would be weird if he'd get paired with Alonso. But so would it be if he'd get paired with Stroll since Alonso has a contract for 2026 and it wouldn't be a good look to fire the guy that is a brand ambassador for AM for the coming 10 or so years or have that guy move to another team.