Max Verstappen has admitted to serious talks with McLaren and Mercedes before agreeing his Red Bull extension last month.
Verstappen ended a long period of uncertainty about his future with the new Red Bull deal, announced ahead of his home race, the Dutch Grand Prix, which overwrote a deal lasting until 2028 with one running through to the end of 2030.
The existence of escape clauses in his old deal had allowed rumours of moves elsewhere to spread.
Verstappen has acknowledged that he explored options with rival teams before committing to a longer deal.
“Of course, any kind of chat you take seriously,” Verstappen said in a BBC Sport interview when asked about how serious talks were with McLaren and Mercedes. “They’re all very respectful chats. There’s nothing wrong with that.”
Verstappen has been with Red Bull for his entire Formula 1 career. The company signed him to a developmental deal in 2014 before handing him a debut with junior team Toro Rosso the following season.
He memorably won for Red Bull on his first appearance with the team after replacing Daniil Kvyat at the 2016 Spanish Grand Prix.
He spent five seasons at the team before winning his first championship in 2021, the first of four consecutive titles.
Verstappen pointed out he could have left Red Bull in those fallow years and ultimately opted to stay this time around as he believes Red Bull can be contenders again in future.
“I felt that staying was, for me, the right choice,” he said. “You have to follow your heart. I could have run away very early on in my Red Bull career and gone somewhere else to try and win. If you have a little bit of patience, you do end up winning. I feel like that’s my approach now as well.”
Part of the uncertainty around Verstappen’s future had been linked to his discontent with Formula 1’s controversial new hybrid engines, which have shifted a lot of emphasis onto energy management and deployment.
Verstappen has labelled this “anti-racing” and likened the new F1 to Mario Kart.
F1 is making tweaks to the engines in 2027 and 2028 to lessen the importance of the electrical elements and Verstappen hopes this will lead to an improvement in how the racing feels.
“Hoping that it will be better in the future,” he said. “Accepting where we are at the moment. Still the love for the sport. Not at the moment the driving. But the love for the sport.
“I love competition, naturally. I just hope that in the coming years, towards 2030, it can only get better. And to start to make the best of it, because these are the rules for the next four or five years.”
