Patrese sees Verstappen as King of the market: “Ferrari would also find a place for him”

All at Max Verstappen’s feet The news of Gianpiero Lambiase’s farewell to Red Bull has opened Pandora’s box of uncontrolled rumors about Max Verstappen’s future: on the one hand, there is in fact the awareness that the Dutchman – who among other things directly encouraged him to accept McLaren – may sooner or later want to reunite with his engineer friend; on the other hand, the current situation of poor competitiveness of the RB22 suggests that the four-time world champion could leave Milton Keynes to choose a team capable of guaranteeing him a more high-performance car, or even take a break from Formula 1 by accepting the romantic – but certainly much less profitable – challenge of racing in GT or in the World Endurance Championship. Riccardo Patrese’s opinion Also of this opinion is Riccardo Patrese who, in an interview with BettingLounge, explained how a driver like Max Verstappen could in his opinion get a seat in any team of his choice: “There are lots of rumors but, if Max wants to change, he can do it easily. Everyone would like to have someone like him in their team so, if he wanted McLaren, surely one of the two current drivers, perhaps Oscar Piastri, would leave. If he wanted Mercedes, it would probably be George Russell having to make way for him, given that Kimi Antonelli is in an excellent position for the championship.” Ferrari, however, is not excluded from the equation: “Even if he wanted to go to Ferrari, they could probably find him a place there. Indeed, for now in Maranello they have done a good job, they are happier because the car is new and they hope to develop it in such a way as to be competitive and win. But, if they don’t succeed, then I think that in the end a driver could pay the consequences, because the managers could decide they want to change something. And this could mean trying to bring in Max Verstappen. But the trigger for any move is what he decides to do. It’s the first piece of the puzzle, then everything else will move accordingly.”