Verstappen says he will remain with team following speculation
Max Verstappen has confirmed he will remain with Red Bull for the 2026 season, putting an end to uncertainty over the four-time world champion’s short-term future. The recent departure of CEO and team principal Christian Horner, coupled with the team’s drop in form over the last year as well as fractional infighting over the last eighteen months.
Verstappen had been linked to a move to Mercedes because of the reports that the German manufacturer will have a strong package when new regulations are introduced for next season. However, Horner’s Mercedes counterpart Toto Wolff, has admitted over the last month that he was in conversations over trying to sign Verstappen, but maintained throughout that the 27-year-old was more likely to make a switch at some point after the 2026 season.
Verstappen is contracted to Red Bull until 2028, but is understood to have release clauses in his contract that could enable him to exit the team earlier. Asked about his future ahead of this weekend’s Hungarian Grand Prix, the last before the sport’s summer break, Verstappen said: “The thing is always that people are waffling so much throughout the whole season, while the only one that actually can or should speak is not speaking. That’s me.”
“I do that on purpose because it makes no sense to start throwing things around, and actually, that should be the same for everyone. Some people just like to stir the pot, and some people just like to create drama. But, for me, it’s always been quite clear, and also for next year.”
“I do that on purpose because it makes no sense to start throwing things around, and actually, that should be the same for everyone. Some people just like to stir the pot, some people just like to create drama.” Verstappen says for him it has always been quite clear, and also for next year.
Despite claiming that he had always been intent on remaining with Red Bull next year, Verstappen had until Thursday refused to make a clear public commitment to the team.
The latest rumours were sparked in mid-July when rumours swirled that both he and Wolff were holidaying on boats in Sardinia. Regarding those rumours, Verstappen added: “If my boat is next to Toto’s, then the boat is next to Toto’s. You can have a personal relationship with someone even if you don’t have a working relationship with someone.
Horner’s departure down to “various factors” Marko
Red Bull adviser Helmut Marko says Christian Horner’s sacking was “the result of various factors” but that a lack of performance on track was the main reason for his dismissal. Horner was removed as CEO and team principal after Silverstone, following eighteen months of turmoil within the team.
After a dominant spell that saw Max Verstappen win four successive drivers’ titles from 2021-2024, Red Bull has suffered a drop-off in form that coincided with several key figures, including Adrian Newey, leaving the team. Also, Horner was twice cleared by an internal and KC-led investigation of inappropriate and controlling behaviour towards a female colleague.
Marko spoke to Sky Germany ahead of the Belgian Grand Prix, Red Bull’s first race without Horner, and said, “The decision was made by the management – that is, Oliver Mintzlaff. We informed Christian Horner of it in London. At the same time, we officially thanked him for twenty years and eight world titles. It was the result of various factors. But primarily, performance was not quite where it should be.”
Horner was replaced by Laurent Mekies, who was promoted from Racing Bulls with the task of turning around their season and closing the gap to McLaren, who took another dominant one-two on Sunday in Spa. Marko added, “Luckily, we were able to bring in Laurent Mekies from within the Red Bull family. His role will be significantly more focused, primarily on racing. He’s an excellent engineer, which is a good fit considering the complex technology in Formula One.”
The appointment of Mekies follows the trend this decade of people from an engineering background being hired as team principals, with Andrea Stella at McLaren the shining example. Marko says he believes the technical experience of Mekies can provide an “advantage” for Red Bull as he takes on a streamlined version of Horner’s role.
He added, “I believe that’s definitely an advantage. Other teams have gone this route before us. Also, the scope of the role has been clearly reduced. The company has 2,000 employees. Mekies will mainly focus on the technical side and racing.”
There was speculation that the rift between Jos Verstappen who called for Horner to leave the team in March 2024, shortly after the misconduct allegations had been made against the Brit.
However, speaking to Sky Sports on the grid in Spa on Sunday, Verstappen appeared to deny having had any involvement with the decision. He said, “They decided to change. I’m fine with everything.”
Verstappen was then reminded by Rosberg of his calls for Horner’s exit, to which he replied: “That was one and a half year ago. It’s different. I have nothing to say. It’s fine.” Asked if he was now quiet, following the decision, he added: “I’m always quiet.”
McLaren title fight will be a “coin toss”
McLaren CEO Zak Brown believes the title battle between the team’s drivers, Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris, will be a “coin toss” every weekend. Piastri leads Norris by sixteen points in the Drivers’ Championship going into this week’s Hungarian Grand Prix after a dominant victory in Belgium.
However, the gap between the two has never been above twenty-three points, less than a Grand Prix win, between them when they have won ten of the thirteen Grands Prix. Asked by Sky Sports which driver has the momentum, Brown said: “They both do because they’re winning a lot and getting one-twos. I think Oscar was a little disappointed with qualifying in Belgium.”
“Lando was very happy. I’m sure he’ll be a little bummed that he didn’t win today, but it’s coming off of two wins. I think it’s going to be a coin toss every weekend. Oscar is a machine. And what’s impressive is how aggressive he is, and yet he always brings the car home. That’s quite a talent.”
McLaren has made it clear they want this championship to be a two-way fight between only their drivers. Max Verstappen has lost ground over the last three events and fallen to eighty points behind championship leader Piastri, but Brown is still not ruling out the Red Bull driver yet.
Saying, “I think it’s too early. It’s looking good, but Max… there’s a lot of racing left to go. We’ve got a nice gap but I wouldn’t say we’re there. We’ve all been around this sport too long. To start dancing before you’re in the end zone is a very dangerous thing to do.”
Piastri has appeared to have the upper hand during their first two seasons as teammates; however, that appears to have shifted with Norris one ahead in the qualifying head-to-head. Team principal Andrea Stella says the priority is for both drivers to have an equal opportunity when it comes to the team’s operations and reliability, so the drivers ultimately decide the outcome of the championship.
Ferrari upgrades will “pay off”
Ferrari team principal Fred Vasseur is “confident” that the information gathered at last weekend’s race at Spa will “pay off” at this weekend’s Hungarian Grand Prix. Despite last weekend being a sprint weekend, limiting practice, the team brought its long-awaited new rear suspension to Spa.
The results were largely encouraging as Leclerc claimed a hard-fought podium in third, while Hamilton recovered from a qualifying blunder to move up from eighteenth at the start to seventh at the chequered flag.
Asked after Sunday’s race whether the upgrades require more fine tuning, Vasseur said: “For sure, you have some upgrades during the season where it’s paying off from lap one, and some others that you have to fine-tune and to understand exactly the behaviour, to understand the correlation with the brakes, ride height and so on.
Lewis Hamilton says he called on his go-karting days to make his way through the field to seventh. He said, “We are still in this process. If I have to choose for sure, I would have preferred to have Spa on the normal weekend and to do a kind of slow introduction and to do it step by step, but I’m not choosing the calendar and it was better to do it in this weekend, taking some risk.”
While Leclerc believes the new rear suspension will particularly enhance the SF-25’s performance in slow-speed corners, this could put Ferrari in a good position in Budapest. The Hungaroring is a slower speed technical circuit where overtaking can be more difficult. Hamilton goes into this weekend looking for a record extending tenth win, having won in his first seasons with both McLaren and Mercedes.
Asked whether that belief boosts Ferrari’s expectations for the Hungaroring, Vasseur replied: “We were not that magic on low-speed corners this weekend. It means that we still have some improvement to do. But I’m quite confident that all the tasks that we collected this weekend will pay off in Budapest.”
It appears to me that since Austria, which I missed, Hamilton has found his feet on track and we know that he has written documents to try and move the team forwards but it has been harder than we thought. This was a move, I think, which was always going to be about next year, and he looks to be pushing Ferrari in the right direction.
In Spa, Hamilton said he has been submitting documents to the team’s management and that he “refuses” to become the latest multiple champion, like Fernando Alonso and Sebastian Vettel, to fail to win a championship.
Talking Points Budapest
Round fourteen brings F1 to Budapest for the start of the second ‘official’ summer break, with the two-week mandatory holiday in mid-August. A year ago, Oscar Piastri joined a long list of drivers who took a maiden Grand Prix win in Hungary, and goes into this weekend having won in Spa on Sunday.
That followed his teammate Lando Norris wins in Spielberg and Silverstone, the final race before the summer break, it sometimes feels like there is a tiny bit of added significance to a result that will be the lasting outcome until the end of August, but Hungary this weekend really does offer an opportunity for the two McLaren drivers to leave with different outlooks over the shutdown.
If Piastri takes another victory this weekend, he will be nearly a race win ahead of Norris and take another win; however Norris, he can quickly change that if he’s able to hit back with a win of his own, which would reduce the deficit to nine points at most. Over the break, there will be plenty of analysis of their fight.
Last weekend was disappointing for Lewis Hamilton, as he struggled to get to grips with an upgraded Ferrari and suffered two early exits from the qualifying sessions. A spin in Sprint Qualifying was attributed in part to settings on an upgraded component, while Hamilton exceeded track limits in Q1 on Saturday and lost his best lap time to be eliminated.
But despite that the seven-time champion fought back in the Grand Prix, in mixed conditions, he once again thrived pulling off a number of overtakes and a perfectly timed stop allowed him to finish seventh. After the race the seven-time champion said, afterwards that he felt he was making progress with the new Ferrari parts, including a new rear suspension, and starting to fine-tune it over the weekend.
With a chance to build on that immediately in Budapest, Hamilton and Ferrari could be on for a strong performance, as Charles Leclerc showed the potential of the updated car with his podium at Spa-Francorchamps. Both Leclerc and team principal Fred Vasseur referenced how the team was getting more out of its new set-up with each session, which bodes well for this weekend.
Hamilton’s replacement, Kimi Antonelli, endured a tough weekend, also dropping out in the first part of Qualifying on both occasions, and only being able to recover to sixteenth place in the race, although he did also score the fastest lap. After the race the Italian said he had been struggling for confidence, but after a change in set-up to a higher downforce wing on and felt he could rebuild some of that confidence during the race, even if he couldn’t always show his improved pace because of the straight line speed deficit it left him with.
Going into this weekend, he is targeting a better qualifying, which would allow him to utilise better race pace more effectively, and the usual format of three practice sessions should offer him a chance to find his rhythm.
While there are no changes to the circuit in terms of layout and resurfacing along the main straight after the main grandstand and pit building was rebuilt.
Williams will be “weaker” in Budapest
Williams team principal James Vowles has confirmed that the Hungaroring circuit will be “weaker” for the team after the latest FW47 upgrades. Last weekend at Spa the team scored eleven points across the weekend, the upgrade package focused on floor fences and a new floor edge.
Discussing the upgrades in his podcast The Vowles Verdict, he explained, “It’s fundamentally downforce that we’ve added to the car. Now, there’s still going to be weak and strong circuits. So Spa, stronger circuit. I think Monza will be a stronger circuit, and I think Budapest will be a weaker circuit. But it’s still one that I go in with the hope of scoring points.”
Speaking in his vlog, The Vowles Verdict, he explained, “It’s fundamentally downforce that we’ve added to the car. Now, there’s still going to be weak and strong circuits. So Spa, stronger circuit. I think Monza will be a stronger circuit, and I think Budapest will be a weaker circuit. But it’s still one that I go in with the hope of scoring points.”
After the race, Carlos Sainz confirmed that he felt the team had “gone in the right direction,” but stated that the upgrades had made the car “trickier” to drive. Alex Albon confirmed that Hungary is historically “not a good track” for the team.
He explained the media in Belgium, “I think that we had a really strong race today. The package definitely helped us finish the position we finished, and we would not have been in it. But we need to do more tracks to really find out where we are.”
“I think this track always would have suited us. Hungary is not a good track for us normally, so we need to see where we fall out there. If we’re good in Hungary, then I think we can say the rest of the year is going to be strong. But I’ll wait until then.”
