08/09/2024
NEWS STORY
As rivals pile the pressure on Red Bull, Helmut Marko admits that he fears Max Verstappen will not be at Red Bull for much longer.
While McLaren is just 8 points behind the Austrian outfit, with a 39 point deficit even Ferrari is within striking distance, as Red Bull continues to flounder.
Red Bull's last win came in Spain and in the six races since it has averaged 18 points, compared to McLaren's 31 and Ferrari and Mercedes 22, the difference even greater since the summer break.
Though he has a contract that runs to the end of 2028, Verstappen, who has already admitted that both titles are "not realistic", will have various opt-out clauses in his contract, indeed at the height of the Horner saga there was talk of these being triggered sooner rather than later.
Toto Wolff has made no secret of his desire to have the Dutchman at Mercedes, while Adrian Newey's anticipated move to Aston Martin will surely have the Dutchman thinking about the Silverstone-based outfit, especially with Honda supplying the engines.
Other than the trials and tribulations of the current season, Verstappen has already expressed doubts about 2026 when Red Bull will be using its own engine, all of which has Marko fearing for the very worst scenario.
"Next year he will be driving for Red Bull Racing," he tells OE24. "But (2026) is so far away, and for now our full focus is on the 2024 world championship."
After announcing Kimi Antonelli as teammate to George Russell in 2025, Wolff admitted that he still had his eyes on Verstappen for the future.
"I made up my mind five minutes after Lewis Hamilton told me he was going to Ferrari," said the Austrian, when asked when he'd decided to go with Antonelli. "Obviously we were discussing with other options, and obviously the Max idea couldn't be discounted completely looking at what happened at Red Bull."
While Mercedes hasn't given details of how long Antonelli's contract is for, Russell's current deal runs to the end of 2025.