Max Verstappen will not go to Mercedes next season.
The three-time defending champion in Formula 1 has a contract with Red Bull Racing until 2028 and is the prohibitive favorite to win a fourth title in a row in 2024. However, he is mentioned as a possible candidate to replace Lewis Hamilton at Mercedes next season. Hamilton announced earlier this year that he would join Ferrari in 2025.
On Thursday in Austria, Verstappen made it clear that he would be back at Red Bull in 2025.
“I don’t think this is the way Formula 1 works, where you can suddenly say ‘hello guys’,” Verstappen said at a press conference (via F1). “I have a long contract with the team and I’m very happy with where I am now and, as I said before, we are already focusing on next year with things we can implement on the car, so I think that’s enough say. from where I will ride next year.”
Questions were asked about Verstappen’s future at Red Bull despite the long-term contract as the team endured a tumultuous start to 2024. A Red Bull employee accused team boss Christian Horner of harassment, but the team ultimately acquitted Horner of wrongdoing. The controversy is said to have caused tension within the team and has been cited as the reason for the departure of aerodynamicist Adrian Newey.
With Verstappen publicly out of the picture for Mercedes in 2025, it seems very likely that the team will promote junior driver Kimi Antonelli to replace Hamilton next season. Antonelli, who turns 18 in August, could even make a few appearances for Williams at the end of the season if Mercedes wants to give him some racing experience in an F1 car.
Antonelli looked the likely option as Hamilton’s replacement in recent weeks, with Verstappen a long shot to replace the seven-time world champion.
Red Bull has been the dominant team in F1 for the past two seasons, as Verstappen had the best season in F1 history in 2023 with 575 points and 19 wins over 22 races. And although he leads the points standings by 69 points in ten races this season and has seven wins to his name, the rest of the field appears to be much closer to Verstappen than in 2023.
Lando Norris’s average finish of 3.5 is just 0.1 behind Verstappen, even though Norris has only managed one win. Ferrari drivers Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz have one win each, after Sainz became the only non-Red Bull driver to win a race a season ago.
Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton and George Russell also seem much more competitive than last season. Mercedes’ recent upgrades have set some serious pace as Hamilton finished third in Spain a week ago, while Russell finished fourth behind Verstappen and Norris.
Norris started that race on pole, but lost the lead entering Turn 1 on the opening lap as he fell behind Russell and Verstappen. Norris said on Thursday that “everything has to be perfect” if McLaren wants to beat Verstappen.
“We are up against one of the best drivers ever in Formula 1, who is performing at an incredibly high level and for anything that wasn’t perfect, like my start last weekend, you pay the price,” said Norris. “Simple as that.”
