Landing in Mercedes or sabbatical?
The manager of Max Verstappen Raymond Vermeulen was very good at guaranteeing his client a rich and long contract with Red Bull from which it would have been equally simple to free himself when the Milton Keynes team did not prove to be competitive. A year ago Verstappen could have been released from his contract if he had not been in the top-3 of the Drivers’ Championship at the summer break, a clause that was not activated because the Dutchman was behind McLaren in third place.
In this 2026, however, the conditions for freeing oneself are even simpler. According to what was reported by TheTelegraphIn fact, Verstappen will be able to exit the contract if he is not among the top two in the Drivers’ World Championship and in light of the situation the Dutchman can already consider himself free just as Red Bull would do well to think about a replacement.
Verstappen will be able to afford to wait until month of October before informing the team of his decision. There are two paths that lead Max away from Red Bull, one leading to Mercedes, although Toto Wolff recently underlined that both George Russell and Andrea Kimi Antonelli have multi-year contracts. The other leads to a sabbatical dedicated to GT3 and endurance racing such as the 24 Hours of Le Mans.
