Red Bull Boss Laurent Mekies Confirms Rival Interest in Verstappen, But Backs Team to Keep Him

• Red Bull team principal Laurent Mekies confirmed rival teams have made enquiries about Max Verstappen’s seat, while saying Red Bull also fields calls from other “good drivers”
• Verstappen’s contract runs to the end of 2028 but includes performance clauses that let him leave at the end of this season, with a decision due by October
• Mekies pointed to Red Bull’s recent form, including Isack Hadjar’s recovery drive to sixth from 21st at Spa, as the real factor in keeping Verstappen

Red Bull team principal Laurent Mekies has confirmed that rival teams are making enquiries about Max Verstappen’s future, but says the door swings both ways, with “good drivers” also calling Red Bull about potential seats of their own.

Verstappen’s contract runs to the end of 2028 but contains performance clauses allowing him to leave at the end of this season, with the four time champion believed to have until October to decide whether to activate that break. His representatives were reported last month to have spoken with McLaren, though team boss Zak Brown has made clear he considers his line-up settled, saying “I’ve got my two drivers” in Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri. With Mercedes and Ferrari’s seats also under contract, Verstappen’s short term options beyond Red Bull appear limited heading into 2027.

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“It’s working in both directions”

Asked by Sky Sports F1 at the Belgian Grand Prix whether Red Bull had itself received interest from drivers elsewhere on the grid, Mekies did not deny it. “It’s working in both directions,” he said. “It’s completely natural and I think that’s what you guys were reporting before.

“It’s completely natural Max gets called from everyone because he’s the best driver in the world and, equally, if you are a top team, you are going to get calls from many of these good drivers around as well. That’s natural.”

Verstappen himself was blunt when pressed on his future ahead of the Belgian Grand Prix. “Is it a distraction for us? Not really. The full focus is to get that car as fast as it can, then you will keep your best driver in the world and we also see there’s a massive growth of Isack [Hadjar] alongside Max. That for us is the ideal pairing and we try to make sure we can keep that pairing.”

Closing in on the final tenths

Mekies is confident Red Bull’s on track progress will be the deciding factor in keeping Verstappen. After a major RB22 upgrade three races ago at the Austrian Grand Prix, Verstappen has finished on the podium twice in the last three races, with a difficult Silverstone the exception after a rear wing fault sent him into a late spin. Hadjar, meanwhile, has extended his run of top six finishes to six races, including sixth from 21st on the grid at Spa.

“We started the season a bit more than one second off the pace and I don’t think we should be surprised at that,” Mekies said. “It’s a product of how late the title push was last year, a product of the incredible challenge of the new power unit.

“We started on the back foot but these guys did it again. We were more than a second away and we are now talking about the last two or three tenths for ultimate pace. When you are one second away, the drivers are going to be frustrated, Max is going to be frustrated. And we know it’s not the position we want to stay. The best way to close the subject is to go and get these last two or three tenths and that’s what everyone is focused on.”

Managing a team in transition

Red Bull has lost a number of figures associated with its recent title winning years, with Verstappen’s race engineer and long time ally Gianpiero Lambiase set to join McLaren no later than 2028. Asked how that sense of transition squared with the effort to keep Verstappen, Mekies played down any tension.

“It’s more simple than what it seems, because ultimately it’s only about speed,” he said. “Red Bull and Red Bull Racing only have one objective, it’s to win, and it’s the same objective that Max has. So, it’s not about, how can we prove to him that we can win. We are here to win anyhow.

“It’s the same group of people that have done the incredible turnaround last year, that was a few months ago. It’s the same group of people that, despite that late push, has managed to absorb nearly one second off our competitors, and they were not waiting for us in these first races. Now we are in the hardcore part of it, the last few tenths, the most difficult ones to get, but what we need to do is continue to work as a united group, and that’s how we’ll produce the best results.”

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