Red Bull end the saga with a two-year extension

Red Bull announced on Thursday that four-time world champion Max Verstappen, 28, had agreed a new deal extending his stay at the team through to the end of 2030 — two years beyond his previous contract, which ran until the end of 2028. The announcement landed on the eve of his home Dutch Grand Prix, the first race back after Formula 1's summer break, and put an end to one of the biggest storylines of the year.

"I was closer to retiring than changing teams"

Verstappen had been persistently linked with a possible exit — to Mercedes, to McLaren, or, earlier this year, from F1 altogether amid his dissatisfaction with the new power unit regulations. But the Dutchman made clear where his heart lay.

"I think I was closer to retiring than changing teams," Verstappen said at a Red Bull press conference at Zandvoort. "But, no, all good."

Asked directly about the existence of any rival offers, he added: "It doesn't matter. It doesn't matter, does it? Well, not to me."

Why stay at the 'family'?

Verstappen used the word "family" on multiple occasions to describe his bond with Red Bull, the only team he has known in F1 since joining its junior programme as a 16-year-old in 2014. The relationship traces back to a promise he made to founder Dietrich Mateschitz before his death in 2022: to see out his career at the team.

"A few names have left but, at the same time, it's still my family," Verstappen said. "I never felt that desire or need to change to another team, to try and win somewhere else. 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."

He joked his "favourite colour is blue, so that helps," and even quipped the deal was "practising for my own marriage!" He reiterated a long-held ambition: "Back in the day, when Dietrich was still alive, I said to him, my goal and target would be, of course, to race for Red Bull forever. So, we are on the good way."

The retirement scare and the rulebook

Verstappen admitted that after the opening races of 2026 he told team principal Laurent Mekies: "Don't come to me with any kind of questions about the future, because I don't even know if I want to stay!" Constructive talks between drivers, F1 and the FIA led to an early refinement of the regulations, including a plan to reduce the electrical power contribution in 2027 and 2028. His new deal also runs into a potential new engine era, with suggestions F1 could return to V8 engines on sustainable fuels from 2030.

"It's still a Formula 1 car... I still love racing," he said. "This is still the pinnacle of motorsport. So I still want to be here." Verstappen said he has "the belief in the people — that we can get back to the top," despite Red Bull struggling to challenge at the very front for much of this year.

Mercedes and McLaren talks

Mercedes had been the most consistent suitors, with boss Toto Wolff long viewed as targeting Verstappen, at one stage as a team-mate for George Russell and more recently as a potential replacement. Russell insisted his seat "never felt under threat."

"It was always very clear from within Mercedes what the reality was over these past couple of years," Russell said. "Maybe those conversations were slightly more public than the conversations his team were having with the likes of McLaren, or Ferrari, or whoever else it may have been. That's the just the nature of the sport. Drivers talk with different teams, teams talk with different drivers. Everyone has to just see what their cards are. But my seat never felt under threat, and I felt 100 per cent security with Toto and the team."

McLaren emerged as a headline option earlier this season after CEO Zak Brown held a conversation with Verstappen's management. Brown said the talks "didn't go anywhere" given Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri are under long-term contracts, and sources told The Athletic there was never a serious push for a 2027 link-up. Norris, the reigning world champion, said he would have welcomed Verstappen as a team-mate: "A guy who has won as many world championships as he has, a guy who is as talented as him would always be cool to have as a team-mate one day. But I know Oscar's my team-mate for still quite a while yet, I know nothing is changing."

Contract details kept under wraps

Verstappen declined to confirm whether performance-related exit clauses remain in the new deal. "I've never disclosed anything in my contract, so yeah, that stays the same," he said, smiling as former team-mate and now Cadillac driver Sergio Pérez urged him to reveal more: "You know, Checo, I'll tell you after." Red Bull's Mekies stressed the "substance" of the deal remained private but called it a "demonstration of trust" and a "massive stability element" for the team.