Racing
© Spencer
Red Bull team director Laurent Mekies said Max Verstappen remains “totally committed” to the team, but admitted Red Bull must quickly give him a car capable of fighting at the front if it wants to quiet growing questions over his future after a difficult start to 2026.
Mekies pushed back against suggestions that Verstappen is being kept at arm’s length as Red Bull deals with internal change and performance problems. He said the four-time world champion is closely involved in major decisions and fully aware of discussions around his long-time race engineer Gianpiero Lambiase, who is expected to leave for McLaren.
“We talk with Max almost every day. He was perfectly aware of the discussions that we had with GP, because we are totally transparent,” Mekies said. “Max does not evaluate the project from the outside, he is right in it.”
Mekies also sought to cool concern over Lambiase’s situation, saying there was “no sign” he had already left and that he remains tied to Red Bull by a long-term contract for another two years. He described the McLaren move as an “extraordinary opportunity” and said it was the kind of chance that may not come “once in a life,” which led Lambiase to accept it.
The bigger issue for Red Bull is the car. Mekies said Verstappen’s commitment is not in doubt, but accepted the team has made life too difficult for its lead driver with a package that has been hard to exploit in the opening races. “The Max that we see is totally committed. He wants a fast car and he helps the team make it faster. He puts all his energy into that goal,” Mekies said.
That support came with a warning. Mekies said Red Bull “no longer has the right to mistake” after its early-season struggles and pointed to upgrades expected as early as Miami. “We know that our priority is to give him a car with which he can attack. We didn’t make it easy for him during the first three races and we need now to give him a single-seater with which he can push permanently,” he said.
Those remarks go to the heart of the current speculation around Verstappen. The team is insisting he is still fully invested, but it is also making clear that retention will depend less on reassurance than on whether the RB22 becomes a genuine front-running car under the new rules.
That has left room for outside voices to argue Red Bull may already be in a race against time. Former Formula 1 driver Ralf Schumacher said on the Backstage Boxengasse podcast that Verstappen’s recent comments point to two possibilities. “Either Max Verstappen wants to stop, but I don’t assume that. Or everything is being prepared so that he goes to a team where he has a better future,” Schumacher said.
Schumacher said Red Bull may need “at least two to three years” before everything works as intended, and questioned whether Verstappen has the patience to wait that long. He also said McLaren should move if the Dutchman becomes available. “Max is very impatient,” Schumacher said. “If Max Verstappen becomes available, then you have to do that.”
Martin Brundle, speaking to Sky Sports, struck a similar note on Red Bull’s immediate challenge, saying the team does have “a real job on their hands” to keep Verstappen because he wants to judge the project on the next phase of car development. Brundle said Verstappen will want to see through the middle of the season that Red Bull is on top of both the regulations and the car.
At the same time, Brundle cautioned against assuming Verstappen could simply walk into another top seat. “I’m not sure it’s that easy for Max to just jump ship at the moment,” he said, pointing to the strength and stability of the driver line-ups at Mercedes, McLaren and Ferrari.
For Red Bull, that means the immediate pressure is still internal. Mekies can point to transparency, Verstappen’s involvement and his continued effort to drive the team forward, but the decisive argument will be whether the upgrades arrive quickly enough to prove the project still gives him a reason to stay.