Last Updated on August 15 2025, 10:15 am

Max Verstappen has confirmed he will remain with Red Bull Racing for the 2026 season, ending speculation that he might move to rivals such as Mercedes. The announcement came during media day at the Hungarian Grand Prix, where Verstappen made clear that despite holding discussions with Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff, he will stay with the Milton Keynes-based outfit.

It is not the first time Wolff has approached the four-time world champion. Last season, Verstappen was considered a possible replacement for Lewis Hamilton, though that opportunity never materialised. The difference this year is that Red Bull’s performance has slipped, with the team currently fourth in the Constructors’ Championship and Verstappen trailing the championship leader by 97 points.

Verstappen valuation theory

Former Formula 1 driver Juan Pablo Montoya believes this decline in performance could have played a key role in Verstappen’s decision to stay put. Speaking to Coinpoker, Montoya argued that the Dutchman’s market value is not what it was during his dominant title-winning campaigns. “If I was negotiating with Max last year when he was winning the world championship, let’s say, it would have cost $100 million,” Montoya said. “This year he’s in a struggling car. The number could be $50 million. Maybe that was the reason he stayed.”

According to Montoya, the balance of power in negotiations has shifted. He suggested that while last year any team would have had to make an extraordinary financial offer to tempt Verstappen away from Red Bull, this year potential suitors would be in a much stronger bargaining position. “Maybe Max thought he was going to get [$50m] and whoever was speaking to him would have the upper hand, knowing that Max would want them more than they want Max,” he explained.

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Red Bull’s competitive dip

Red Bull’s downturn this season has been striking. After years of dominance built on a formidable chassis and the peerless form of Verstappen, they now find themselves struggling to match Mercedes, McLaren and Ferrari. While the RB21 remains a capable car, it has lacked the outright pace to challenge consistently at the front. For Verstappen, who has been accustomed to fighting only for wins and titles, such a season represents unfamiliar territory.

Montoya’s comments point to a reality that is rarely discussed openly in the paddock — that a driver’s market value is as much about timing as talent. Had Verstappen been available at the height of his dominance, teams would have stretched budgets and made compromises to secure his services. But when the same driver is seen fighting for lower podiums or even top-five finishes, the urgency — and the price tag — changes.

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The Judge’s bench: loyalty or leverage?

And here is where the satire creeps in. Verstappen staying with Red Bull may be painted as an act of loyalty, but Montoya’s take makes it sound more like a smart poker player folding a marginal hand rather than walking away with the big win. Last year, he could have named his price and still had teams queuing outside his motorhome. This year, those same teams might offer him tea and biscuits before reminding him they have their own hungry young drivers on the books.

From a business standpoint, staying with Red Bull could be the safer play. Even if the car is not the class of the field in 2025, stability could help him prepare for the regulation reset in 2026. Jumping ship now might mean walking into an even bigger rebuild elsewhere. Still, one wonders if Verstappen’s decision will be quietly filed under “negotiating from a position of weakness” in the backrooms of the paddock.

Montoya, never one to mince words, clearly thinks so. His assessment cuts through the romantic notions of driver loyalty, leaving behind the blunt mechanics of supply and demand. Verstappen may still be one of the most talented drivers in the sport, but right now he is also one with fewer bargaining chips than a year ago.

So, jury, what is your verdict — has Verstappen stayed because he loves Red Bull, or because the market no longer sees him as a $100 million man?

New rules cold spark another F1 power struggle

Formula One playing down impending  “risk”

Formula One is entering the unknown as Adrian Newey describes it. “The reality is I can’t remember another time in Formula 1 when both the chassis regulations and the regulations have changed simultaneously.

“And in this case the chassis regulations have been very much written to try to compensate, let’s say, for the power unit regulations,” said the F1 car design guru at the Autosport’s annual January event this season.

Newey goes on to warn that one manufacturer may “dominate” the next era of F1 regulations stating, “there has to be a chance that one manufacturer will come out well on top and it’ll become a power unit-dominated regulation, at least to start with.”…. READ MORE