Is Max Verstappen too loyal to his team? – What’s going on at Red Bull Racing
- Bella (letstalkaboutspeed)
- Apr 22, 2025
- 5 min read
Updated: May 4, 2025
We are five races into the Formula 1 season and Red Bull Racing – who had been formerly known as being ‘unbeaten’ and ‘in another league’ – keeps showing a recession in performance. With Red Bull’s form not up to the known standard and avoidable mistakes occurring on more than one occasion, rumors have been flying about reigning 4-time World Champion Max Verstappen leaving the team.
A rough start
Slow pit stops, technical issues, a lack of pace and unhappy drivers: That’s the harsh reality Red Bull Racing is living in for the 75th Formula 1 season.
The season started with rookie driver Liam Lawson as Max Verstappen’s team mate. The Kiwi driver had only been on the Dutchman’s side two races (AUS: DNF, CHI: 12th) before getting replaced with Yuki Tsunoda, driver of sister team Racing Bulls; an act of hope for a better performance. But after three races of Tsunoda driving the RB21 (JAP: 12th, BAH: 9th, SAU: DNF) alongside Verstappen (JAP: 1st, BAH: 6th, SAU: 2nd), it became clear that maybe it hadn’t been the driver but rather the car that lacks performance.
Verstappen is known to get ahold of the car even when the pace clearly isn’t there. Even as Red Bull chief Helmut Marko repeatedly said that second or third row would be the maximum the team could achieve in Qualifying, Verstappen managed to qualify higher. But there are scenarios where even the 4-time World Champions talent cannot help achieve a podium: Slow pit stops, mistakes from the pit crew and tyres degradading quicker than it happens at the other top-teams.
Is Verstappen leaving?
On 14th April 2025, right after the Bahrain Grand Prix, Helmut Marko voiced concerns about Max leaving the team – if there continues to be a lack of performance. The media went wild with speculations: Is Verstappen considering a team switch? Is Aston Martin interested in signing him – or even Mercedes?
With Adrian Newey (former Chief Technical Officer at Red Bull Racing) now at Aston Martin and George Russell not having a confirmed long-term contract at Mercedes to date, rumors about a potential move from the Dutchman started to gain even more attention.
It is common knowledge that Verstappen has a contract at Red Bull until the end of the 2028 season. On the other hand, Helmut Marko revealed to Sky Sports that every top driver has performance clauses in their contracts, giving them the opportunity to end the contract early.
But in the reality…
Aston Martin is not interested in signing Max Verstappen. After rumors of a 300 Million Dollar offer emerging during race week of the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix, team principal Andy Cowell denied any speculations about interest in the reigning World Champion.
There is “no room” for Verstappen, Cowell said during press conferences on Friday. The team wants to concentrate on their current drivers (Lance Stroll & Fernando Alonso) for the 2026 season.
Even though there’s no official denial of that sort from Mercedes, former chief-strategist James Vowels (current team principal of Williams) disregarded any rumors about Verstappen joining the Silver Arrows: “I don’t think it’s a place for him.”
Mercedes’ current driver line-up consists of rookie Kimi Antonelli and George Russell. With the latter having a rather complicated relationship with Verstappen and team principal Toto Wolff seeming happy about his drivers’ current performances, a team-up seems rather unlikely.
What does Verstappen think?
The Dutchman has voiced yet again: He has no interest in leaving Red Bull Racing – at least not in the near future. He doesn’t understand where Marko’s concern is coming from and wants to keep on working to improve the car and its performance.
The Grand Prix in Saudi Arabia showed that the car is indeed capable of a good pace; Verstappen finished 2.8 seconds off Piastri after receiving a 5-second penalty for leaving the track and gaining an advantage. It is understeering and the tyres the driver is struggling with most currently. Jeddah Corniche Circuit is a track with low degradation that suits the RB21 better than the previous ones, Verstappen said in an interview.
“We still have things to improve on the car and we need to get a few updates on the car to help that”, the 4-time World Champion said in the media pen after the race in Jeddah. “It’s tough, I think. […] what we need to try and work on is just being a bit more consistent overall.”
Loyalty over logic?
Verstappen has won everything with Red Bull Racing: 64 wins, four Drivers’ and two Constructors’ Championships – of course there happens to be some kind of loyalty from both sides. Over the years, he repeatedly emphasised on his commitment to the team. But will this always be the case, even when the car gets even worse? When his outstanding talent won’t be able to help him drive in the front anymore but rather only the middle field?
Loyalty is not rare in Formula 1. Drivers like Charles Leclerc (Ferrari) and Lando Norris (McLaren) prove on the daily that they’re happy with their teams and want to stay exactly where they have been in the past six years.
On the other side, risky moves aren’t foreign to the world of Formula 1 racing either. Lewis Hamilton has moved from Mercedes to Ferrari just this season after not seeing a real future of winning any more races or championships where he was standing previously. If it had been a smart move is yet to be revealed; as of the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix, Mercedes is second and Ferrari fourth in the Constructors’ Championship.
Nothing changes for now
As it seems, things stay the same as they have been for the last couple of years: Max Verstappen = Red Bull Racing.
The Dutch driver is not leaving any time soon. Instead of taking the quick and easy way out, he’s contributing on getting the car back to its peak performance.
It is still up to him if he wants to stay at Red Bull or not; but if he keeps up his undying loyalty to what seems to be no end, it might become a weakness for him – something we only see rarely.
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