Racing
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Max Verstappen’s Red Bull future is attracting growing outside scrutiny, but while Jenson Button believes the four-time world champion should be looking at Mercedes, Guenther Steiner says the Brackley team has little reason to take him.
Button said Verstappen’s recent frustration at Red Bull should be pushing his management to test the market already. Speaking on Sky F1, the 2009 world champion said, “If his management weren't asking around, they're not doing their job properly,” and added that “there are two teams that he'd be interested in, McLaren and obviously the big one at the moment, Mercedes.”
That view was driven by Verstappen’s mood after his British Grand Prix retirement and the wider changes around him at Red Bull. Button said Verstappen “sounds really frustrated at the moment” and believes the Dutchman is feeling increasingly isolated inside the team. “A lot of people that he's worked with for many years and won championships with have left and gone elsewhere,” Button said. “It must feel a bit lonely within that team for him.” He went further, adding: “I think he'll be looking elsewhere... for next year.”
The speculation has been fed by the structure of Verstappen’s Red Bull deal, which is understood to run until the end of 2028 but to include a performance clause that could allow an exit if he is not in the top two of the drivers’ championship by the summer break. Verstappen has also been vocal about Red Bull’s car after retiring at Silverstone.
For Button, Mercedes is the obvious destination because it has emerged as the form team of 2026, winning seven of the first nine grands prix. He said that if he were advising Verstappen’s side, Mercedes is where he would want to place him, “alongside Kimi or alongside George, whichever one they choose to move on,” adding that in Verstappen’s position “you've got to be ruthless, you've got to be selfish.”
Steiner sees the same Mercedes picture and reaches the opposite conclusion. Speaking on The Red Flags Podcast, the former Haas Formula 1 team principal questioned why Toto Wolff would disrupt a line-up that already gives Mercedes both present performance and future upside.
“Why would Mercedes take him?” Steiner said. “Mercedes has got the next superstar and a very good driver in George.” He argued that Verstappen “costs a lot more than George and would maybe unsettle Kimi,” before concluding: “Toto is too smart to do that, in my opinion.”
Steiner also said the only realistic way Verstappen fits at Mercedes is if George Russell leaves first. That argument carries extra weight given Kimi Antonelli is reported to be leading the championship on 179 points, while one account places Verstappen seventh on 76 after nine rounds. The same team that makes the most sense from Verstappen’s side may therefore have the least incentive to make the move, which leaves his future speculation resting as much on Mercedes’ confidence in its current pair as on Red Bull’s ability to keep him satisfied.