Max Verstappen has confirmed that he will race to Red Bull in 2026 and says: “It is time to actually stop all the rumors” about him who may leave at the end of the season.
The defending champion was associated with a move to Mercedes and had held discussions with Toto Wolff to understand potential future options, but will remain contract with Red Bull until 2028. His current deal includes performance-related clauses that are supposed to concentrate on the Hungarian Grand Prix this weekend, and Verstappen will be guaranteed to stay in the top three in the top of the Gruals championship on Sunday.
“It is quite interesting to follow everything (the rumors) and the amount of fun stories that came out,” said Verstappen. “But yes, for me I never really said anything about it, because I only focused on talking to the team about how we can improve our performance, future ideas for next year. And that is why I never really had to add.
“But I think it’s time to stop all the rumors. And it has always been pretty clear to me that I was staying.
“I think that was also the general feeling in the team, because we were always in discussion about what we could do with the car. And I think if you are not interested in staying, you will stop talking about things like this. And I never did that.”
Since his contract runs until 2028, Verstappen said that he does not know if he should confirm his future every year, but that he will not discuss further performance -related clauses.
“If you ask me that question next year, then we have that speculation!” He said. “But for me I never talk about it, because I am more interested in working on the performance of things. That is why I never really talk about what is in my contract.”
Confirmation from Verstappen that he will race for Red Bull next season comes shortly after Laurent Mekies has replaced Christian Horner as a team head, and the four -fold world champion said that Mekies offers a chance of a change in direction that could show results in the coming years.
“Absolutely, that’s always the case,” he said. “Of course they are still very early days, but I like how Laurent works. Very motivated, constantly asking me the right questions, but also to the team. It’s nice to see.
“This year it is very difficult to see outside, but I hope that we can really see his touch to the team in the coming year, two years. I am very enthusiastic about that.”
Verstappen is hopeful that his comments will help Red Bull to continue to concentrate on trying to find more performance with the current car, with the aim of learning that the team can benefit in the future.
“Nobody really knows for next year where they will be,” he said. “And for us this year, realistically, it will of course be very difficult to fight with McLaren. It is already difficult enough to fight with Ferrari and Mercedes.
“But there is still a lot of opportunity to learn more about the car and behavior of the car. Because I know that the cars will be different next year, [but] There are still things that you can get this year and also implement for next year. “
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