As Formula One hits the track for its third visit to Miami the noise in the paddock is focused on the Red Bull announcement that Adrian Newey will be leaving the team after twenty years. Timescales are a little blurred, but the consensus is that Newey will be a free agent before his contract expires at the end of 2025.
Max Verstappen was tight lipped over the matter when asked for his thoughts and whether Newey’s decision had forced him to reconsider his own Red Bull future.
Newey announcement not affecting Max
“Not at the moment,” was his response, though he added: “I cannot deny that I would have preferred [Newey] to stay because of how he is as a person, his knowledge and what he would bring to potentially another team.
“A lot of good people came into the [Red Bull design] team and that has strengthened that whole department,” he added. “I trust that the technical team we have outside of Adrian is very strong.”
Prior to the Newey bombshell much of the off track talk has been about the very fluid driver market this season. Lewis Hamilton, Fernando Alonso and Nico Hulkenberg have already signed new multi-year contracts and with trouble at Red Bull, much of the speculation has surrounded how Max views the future.
“From the outside it looks very dramatic,” Max told reporters in Miami. “But I think if you actually know what is happening inside the team it’s not as dramatic as it seems. I think over time, his role has changed a bit and I think a lot of people don’t understand what he was actually doing.”
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Newey has been given free reign for some time at Red Bull. He gave up the role of team technical director over a decade ago and in a recent interview, he explained how he himself had designed only a certain number of components for the new ground effect F1 cars.
The change in Newey’ role where he was removed from the day to day technical leadership meant the design guru could dip in and out of the design briefing and best help development as he saw fit.
Christian Horner has previously described the Red Bull technical team as a “machine” which emerged from the freedom Newey was granted to keep him on board while conducting other projects such as the Aston Martin Valkyrie and more recently Red Bull’s first hypercar, the RB17.
With the added uncertainty for Red Bull since the Newey announcement, Mercedes are said to have capitalised by making a mega money offer to Max Verstappen to join them. A record breaking offer of £200m a season has been made to the world champion, enough to pay Lewis Hamilton’s new annual wage at Ferrari several times over.
Max not interested in Mercedes cash
Verstappen was quizzed on the story in the Miami paddock though he quickly dismissed the speculation for what it was, insisting money alone would not tempt him to leave Red Bull.
“My future is within Red Bull at the moment,” he said. “Even if that were to be the case, money would not be the difference to make me go somewhere else.”
Asked whether a £200m deal could change his mind, Verstappen stayed grounded:
“No, I’m happy with what I’m earning already,” he replied. “I know myself, and if I’m driving for P5 or P6, you get quite grumpy with yourself. It’s always about performances at the end of the day. Everyone knows that and Toto also knows that.
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“I’ve learned not to say everything in the media. It doesn’t benefit myself, the team or anyone around in the paddock. I don’t need to say everything on my mind.
“At the moment, I can say I would like to stay with the team because I believe in the project we have, with everybody we have involved. In sport and also life, you don’t know what’s going to happen in the future.”
Someone who is less convinced of Max Verstappen’s commitment to Red Bull Racing is Ralph Schumacher, who this week claimed talks have already taken place between other teams and Max’s representatives.
Speaking to Sky Germany, the former F1 driver said: “I also think he has other options. In the paddock, you already hear stories about him talking to others. The question is whether it will happen next year or the year after, but for me it is certain that he wants to leave.”
Russell would welcome Verstappen as team mate
George Russell is not fazed by the prospect of Verstappen becoming his Mercedes team mate: “I’d be all for it, to be honest. I think coming into Mercedes in 2022 was off the back of Lewis’ legendary years and victories.
“And that was a huge task for anybody, jumping into a team where he’s been for so long. And you need to go against the best, in the same machinery, and show what you’ve got.
“I feel that having Lewis as my teammate for the last three years, he’s been a hell of a teammate, such a great driver. We push each other, every single week. It’s fair to say that.
“I would welcome Max. I want to go against the best – everybody wants to prove what they’ve got. So, yeah, make it happen,” Russell told assembled media.
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“Enjoy them while they last”
The lure of Mercedes is in the fact they nailed the last set of F1 engine regulations and could do so again in 2026. Yet with Red Bull so far ahead of the field, its questionable whether Verstappen would give up another title in 2025 to gamble on what Mercedes deliver in 2026.
Meanwhile Red Bull are attempting something never achieved before by a non OEM F1 competitor, which is to design and build their own F1 engine in time for 2026.
Max Verstappen should heed the words spoken by Sebastian Vettel over team radio during his final championship winning year in 2013: “We have to remember these days,” Vettel said over his team radio after the chequered flag as he returned to pit road, sounding even more choked up than he had when he clinched his fourth championship in India the previous month. “We have to enjoy them while they last.”
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Verstappen must remain pragmatic
Afterwards, he explained to Sky Sports F1 what had been in his mind at the time: “People tend to forget how much work there is behind all these things and how special it is.”
While Max’s head is being turned by all around, he should savour the times he has now at Red Bull, because as Vettel found out, that was in fact as good as it got.
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The Red Bull Formula One dream team appears to be crumbling before the eyes of the world. Their CEO and team principal is facing a potential employment tribunal, guru designer Adrian Newey is stepping back from F1 duties and Max Verstappen despite his contract which runs until 2028 is considering leaving his Red Bull family.
The once serene operation that is dominating the sport of Formula One stumbled at the turn of the year, when a female employee accused Christian Horner of “inappropriate behaviour.” This resulted in an eight week investigation which exonerated the Red Bull boss but the matter is now subject to an appeal from the employee who has since been suspended…. READ MORE
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