As Max Verstappen reportedly considers his options for the F1 2026 reset, Red Bull or Mercedes, one insider has claimed he will be “with” the Brackley squad next season.
That insider is Nelson Piquet Jr., the brother of Verstappen’s partner, Kelly.
Did Nelson Piquet Jr. reveal too much about Max Verstappen’s future?
But was it a slip of the tongue and a poor choice of words, or a revealing mistake?
Piquet Jr. recently sat down with Thiago Alves in the Pelas Pista podcast to talk about Formula 1, from the British Grand Prix to Verstappen’s future in the sport.
Declaring that Silverstone “was not the weekend” for Mercedes, the Brazilian continued: “Who knows next year, with Max there…”
As podcast host Alves reacted in surprised, Piquet Jr. continued: “They are talking, everyone knows right?
“Just missing final contract details, but everyone knows that it’s an option. They are talking.”
Asked whether a sabbatical could be on the cards or if Verstappen would definitely be on the grid in F1 2026, Piquet Jr. replied: “He will be.
“Until August, he needs to have made a decision, they will either get the final details right or not. But I think it would be pretty cool.”
Alves: “To switch or to stay?”
Piquet Jr. simply said: “To switch.”
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Rumours that Verstappen could head to Mercedes are nothing new as they’ve been doing the rounds for almost 18 months, emerging in the wake of Lewis Hamilton’s announcement that he would be heading to Ferrari in F1 2025.
But with Verstappen reaffirming his commitment to Red Bull as he held off Lando Norris to win a fourth successive World title in 2024, Mercedes signed protégé Kimi Antonelli on a one-year confirmed deal.
In five months, Antonelli and his team-mate George Russell will both be out of contract, and as yet team principal Toto Wolff hasn’t agreed a deal with either for next season. Or if he has, we haven’t been told.
But as long as there’s no announcement, the rumours that Verstappen could head to Mercedes continue.
Red Bull’s stranglehold on Formula 1 is no longer, the team falling from winning both championship titles and a one-two in the Drivers’ in 2023 to Verstappen struggling to even the reach the podium as his prospects of a fifth World title slowly disappear. As for the team, it’s fourth in teams’ standings where Verstappen has scored all but seven of Red Bull’s points.
Although he has long-running contract with Red Bull through to the end of the F1 2028 season, the 27-year-old could walk away from by activating a performance clause in his contract. That reportedly allows him to leave the team if he is lower than fourth in the Drivers’ Championship after next month’s Hungarian Grand Prix.
Today, with two races to be run before the chequered flag falls in Hungary, he’s third in the standings on 165 points, 46 ahead of fifth-placed Charles Leclerc with a maximum of 58 points still in play (two grands prix and the Belgian Sprint). It means even if Verstappen wanted to, the performance clause is unlikely to be met.
He could, however, buy himself out of his contract with a claimed ‘£100 million plus’ fee.
But did Red Bull play its trump card with the axing of Christian Horner?
Last season, Horner clashed with Jos Verstappen as the Briton was investigated by Red Bull over alleged inappropriate behaviour towards a staff member. Horner was cleared, but Jos called for his head, insisting the team would be “torn apart” if Horner didn’t leave.
And according to Ralf Schumacher, speaking on Sky Sports Germany’s Boxengasse podcast, there was another heated exchange at Silverstone, just days before Horner was fired.
“There was another argument or a heated exchange, at least visually and verbally, between Jos Verstappen, Christian Horner and the press officer,” he said. “You could see that Jos was anything but happy with the situation.”
Gerhard Berger put Horner’s axing as a move from Red Bull “about stabilising the whole team at the moment and getting Max Verstappen back into it properly”.
But, if what Piquet Jr. said wasn’t a slip of the tongue but more a case of the cat being let out of the bag, Red Bull may yet be saying goodbye to its four-time World Champion when the chequered flag falls in Abu Dhabi.
Only time will tell, and that time is August.
Until then, don’t expect much to come from Verstappen as he’s tired of the constant speculation.
“I do not have to add much to that,” he recently told Viaplay. “The more I say about it, the more it will be reported in the media. And I certainly do not want that. I determine my own future.”
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