Coulthard says Ferrari suits Verstappen over Mercedes

David Coulthard says Ferrari, not Mercedes, would be the better fit for Max Verstappen if the four-time world champion ever leaves Red Bull.

Speaking on the Up To Speed podcast, Coulthard argued that Verstappen “fits better in the Ferrari world than the Mercedes world,” even though Mercedes has long been the team most closely linked with any potential move. He said Verstappen’s relationship with Mercedes is real, adding that he knows Verstappen has “a good relationship” with the manufacturer and races a Mercedes in GT3 events, but believes Ferrari would suit him more naturally.

For Coulthard, the key difference is the environment. He said “the freedom to be Max” would make Verstappen “a more comfortable fit at Ferrari because you would just turn up, drive quickly, presumably win the races and then head home.”

The comments come as Verstappen’s future has again become a talking point after Red Bull’s difficult start to 2026 under the new technical regulations and the revised split between combustion and electric power. Verstappen has criticized those changes for months, and remained unhappy with the direction of the cars even after tweaks were introduced in Miami.

That has kept Mercedes in the conversation, especially after Toto Wolff publicly pursued Verstappen as a possible replacement for Lewis Hamilton. Coulthard’s argument is that those links matter less than the kind of team culture Verstappen would walk into, and in his view Ferrari offers a looser fit than Mercedes’ more structured environment.

Any Ferrari scenario is far from straightforward. Verstappen still has two years remaining on his long-term Red Bull contract, while Ferrari already has Charles Leclerc signed through 2027 and Hamilton reportedly holds an option for a third season.

There is also no certainty that Verstappen wants to leave Red Bull at all if its form continues to recover. On the same podcast, former W Series racer Naomi Schiff said Red Bull’s Miami weekend suggested “things are looking on the up” after the team brought seven new parts and Formula 1 adjusted the engine regulations. Verstappen qualified second, 0.166s behind Lando Norris, before an early spin compromised his race and left him fifth.

Schiff said the key issue now is whether Red Bull can keep giving Verstappen a car capable of winning, adding that “the pressure is more so on Red Bull to make sure they do deliver and give him a car that he can win with, so that he stays to the end of his contract.”