Max Verstappen says his focus is on the present and on his current season with Red Bull, but the Dutchman insists his next step in F1 – if there is one – will be his last.
After starting his 2024 campaign with a string of four wins in five races, Verstappen saw Red Bull’s dominance progressively dwindle, partly due to the RB20’s seemingly troubled development but mainly as a result of McLaren’s sustained progress.
Verstappen’s most recent win dates all the way back to last June’s Spanish Grand Prix. Since, Red Bull’s struggles have seen its McLaren rival take hold of the Constructors’ championship while Lando Norris continues to erode Verstappen’s lead in the Drivers’ standings.
The three-time world champion’s plight, coupled with Mercedes’ admittance to talks over the summer with Verstappen management, has led to speculation that the 26-year-old could be tempted to jump ship at the end of 2025, despite his current contract with Red Bull running until the end of 2028.
Speaking to Sky Italia, Verstappen insists his current priorities are very much entrenched in the present, while the future is still far from his preoccupations.
“People talk a lot more about these things than I do,” he said. “I am very relaxed I just think about driving and trying to understand my problems and improve. Then I go home and live my life.
“I am quite relaxed about the future. For me it’s very simple, I like what I do and as long as I enjoy it I will stay here and continue driving in F1.
“If I want to go elsewhere, I will go elsewhere. But at the moment it is not in my head.”
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Much has been written about the existence of a potential exit clause in Verstappen’s contract with Red Bull, with team boss Christian Horner himself acknowledging recently that “every contract has a performance element in it.”
Verstappen however is stiff-lipped on the topic.
“Maybe yes or maybe no”, he answered when queried on the presence of an exit clause in his covenant with Red Bull.
“Again, I don’t think about that at the moment, because there are so many things this year that I want to try to understand and do better than the years to come and what happens after that is still far away for me, so I don’t have it in my head at the moment.”
While he isn’t ruling out the possibility of changing teams, or even renewing his allegiance to Red Bull beyond 2028, Verstappen made clear that his next move will lead to his final stint in the sport.
“For my part I think I’ve already been with this team for a long time,” he added.
“Then clearly people always want to win, everyone in the paddock wants to win, so you can very easily go from one side to the other over the years.
“But I don’t want my F1 career to be like that, I don’t want to be part of four or five teams. I want to build a long and stable and nice relationship with everybody in the team and feel at home.
“Changing teams often is not nice for me. It’s also something I don’t want to do at this stage of my career.
“My next step, if there ever is one, will be my last step. But the next step could also be the renewal with the team. Everything is pending at the moment.”
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