After signing a new deal to remain at Red Bull until the end of 2030, Max Verstappen has said he never felt the desire to switch teams and revealed he was closer to leaving the sport entirely than signing for a rival.
The new contract, which adds two more years to his previous deal, was announced ahead of this weekend’s Dutch Grand Prix at Zandvoort.
It follows more than a year of speculation about Verstappen’s future, including reports linking him to Mercedes last year and McLaren this season.
It also comes in a season in which he threatened to quit F1 altogether over his dislike of the sport’s new power unit regulations, which put added emphasis on managing battery power instead of driving to the car’s limit.
Speaking in a hospitality unit packed with journalists in Zandvoort, Verstappen said he felt no desire to leave Red Bull, which gave him his F1 break racing for Toro Rosso back in 2015.
“I never felt that desire or need also to change [to another team] to try and win somewhere else,” he said. “If I feel well within the team here, why should I?
“Because I know that they do everything for me, and they know that I do everything for them once I’m on the track and trying to get the results.”
Asked if he had spoken to other teams, Verstappen joked: “I think I was closer to retiring than changing teams.”
Conversations with the sport’s rule makers were also crucial to Verstappen’s decision.
At the start of the season, the four-time world champion described F1’s new rules as “anti-racing” and by the third round in Japan said he was considering quitting the sport at the end of the year.
F1 and the FIA has put in place changes to address some of the limitations of the rules over the next two years, with a simpler V8 engine on the table from 2030 onward.
Verstappen said conversations with both of the sport’s governing organizations convinced him to commit until the end of the current regulation cycle.
“I have to say, after the first few races [of 2026] I said to Laurent [Mekies, Red Bull team principal] don’t come to me with any kind of questions about the future because I didn’t even know if I wanted to stay in F1.
“But honestly we always kept it very open and I know, I mean I love racing and I think I had a lot of very good discussions with F1 but also with the FIA and I think we are slowly working towards something that becomes better and better.
“Also from my side, of course, I accepted the situation that I think we’re all in and just trying to make the best of that. I think also with the year that I signed to it again opens up the door maybe when potentially the V8s come in to look at that again as well.”
Verstappen’s commitment to Red Bull follows a slow start by the team to F1’s new regulations after it opted to produce its own power units in partnership with Ford.
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The four-time world champion has yet to win a race this year and is currently sixth in the standings behind drivers from Mercedes, Ferrari and McLaren.
Mekies recognized the trust Verstappen, 28, had put in his team and said Verstappen was a key pillar in the team’s plans going forward.
“What a demonstration of trust Max has put in the team by making this decision,” he said. “We don’t take it lightly; with that trust comes a huge amount of responsibility in living up to being able to to give him the best package for the years to come.
“The role that Max has in the team -- he’s a lot more than the fastest driver in the world for us. He’s the central point of the team, one we always refer to for all the strategic decisions we are making, and to know that he is going to be with us in order to build that next winning cycle is phenomenal.”
