Why Red Bull Has ‘Great Concern' Over Max Verstappen's Future

Forbes

14-04-2025

Red Bull has 'great concern' over Max Verstappen's future after a difficult start to the season reignited speculations he may leave the team.
The Dutchman has won four world title in a row with Red Bull and is eight points behind championship leader Lando Norris after finishing sixth in the Bahrain Grand Prix on Sunday.
Verstappen won from pole-position in Suzuka the previous week, but McLaren has so far won three of the opening four races of the season.
Norris took the chequered flag in Australia, with teammate Oscar Piastri triumphing in China and Bahrain.
Verstappen, meanwhile, finished second in Melbourne on the opening weekend and took third in the sprint race in Shanghai.
After four races, the reigning world champion accounts for all but two of Red Bull's 71 points, with Yuki Tsunoda, who replaced Liam Lawson after the Chinese Grand Prix, scoring the other two on Sunday.
Red Bull finished last season way off the pace behind McLaren and Mercedes, but has been the second-fastest car behind the Papaya through four races.
Despite the improvements, however, the car remains on average over all qualifying sessions this year 0.214 seconds a lap slower than its direct rivals.
And Red Bull chief advisor Helmut Marko conceded the gap with the McLaren could have a seismic impact over Verstappen's future.
'The concern is great,' he told Sky Germany on Sunday.
"Improvements have to come in the near future so that he has a car with which he can win again.
"We have to create a basis with a car so that he can fight for the world championship."
Red Bull remain plagued by the same balance problems that surfaced mid-season last year, which make the car difficult to driver on corner entry and prone to mid-corner understeer.
Verstappen has complained about the balance issues afflicting his RB-21 throughout the first four weekends of the season and the problem was exacerbated by tyre degradation in Bahrain.
With life running out of his tyres faster than expected and a lot faster than last year, Verstappen could not keep up with his rivals at the front.
'The big problem is the pace that we have,' the Dutchman said in Sakhir. 'I just feel like we are even worse on tyres somehow this year. Basically just very complicated."
It is a major concern for Red Bull, who spent half of last season struggling to address balance issues.
Having won seven of the opening 10 races, Verstappen went winless for three months with a car he described as 'impossible to drive' and only his supreme driving ability allowed him to fend off Norris' title bid.
Verstappen's tally of nine wins last year was the smallest since he won 10 races in 2021, when he clinched his first world title in controversial circumstances on the final lap of the final race of the season.
The Dutchman won 15 times in 2022 and a record breaking 19 times the following season.
'We've been struggling with two issues this weekend, one a braking issue, and secondly, just an imbalance,' Red Bull Team Principal Christian Horner conceded after the race.
"When you have that then tyre deg, everything looks worse. On top of that, we've had a horrible day where we had what looks like a wiring loom issue in the pit gantry.'
Marko's admission over Verstappen's future will almost inevitably lead to speculations over the four-time world champion's future.
The Dutchman is under contract with Red Bull for another three years and while the details of the deal have not been made public, it is understood to contain a clause that could allow him to walk away before 2028.
In September last year, Horner told the media Red Bull's agreement with Verstappen included a 'performance element' that could allow the 27-year-old an early exit.
Earlier this month, Marko also noted Verstappen's contract included performance clauses that would allow him to leave the team.
"We have this huge motivation to achieve this fifth title," the 81-year-old told BBC Sport.
'We also know that if we don't deliver for Max, all the top drivers have performance clauses in their contract.'
Mercedes more or less overtly flirted with Verstappen throughout last season and team principal Toto Wolff met with Verstappen's father, Jos, and the driver's manager Raymond Vermeulen in the summer.
In January, however, Wolff poured cold waters on the rumours, suggesting 'there was never a plan' for Mercedes to sign Verstappen.
But in an episode of Drive to Survive, the Silver Arrows boss offered a rather different take, revealing he never spoke to Verstappen because of a promise he made to Ferrari-bound Lewis Hamilton.
Crucially, however, Wolff hinted the prospect of luring the Dutchman away from Red Bull remains a possibility.
'I haven't talked to him because I promised Lewis not to talk to him,' he said in the show.
'But I will have the conversation now.'
That conversation may happen sooner rather than later if Red Bull can't deliver a winning car.