Nelson Piquet Jr, the brother in law of Max Verstappen, has seemingly backtracked on his claim that the Red Bull driver will be with Mercedes for the F1 2026 season. And he has raised the theory that Red Bull sacked team principal Christian Horner in a bid to convince the reigning four-time World Champion to stay for next season.
Despite being officially under contract with Red Bull until the end of the F1 2028 campaign, Verstappen has been heavily linked with a move away from the team at the end of this year. Horner, the recently departed Red Bull team boss, confirmed to media including PlanetF1.com last year that Verstappen’s deal contains a “performance element” that could allow him to leave before 2028.
It is believed that Verstappen will be able to activate an exit clause if he is lower than fourth in the Drivers’ standings following next weekend’s Hungarian Grand Prix, the final race before F1’s summer break.
Analysis: Max Verstappen to leave Red Bull for Mercedes?
Verstappen currently holds third in the championship with an 18-point advantage over George Russell, the driver he would most likely replace at Mercedes.
Charles Leclerc, the Ferrari driver, sits a further 28 points back in fifth place.
It was claimed last week that Ola Kallenius, the Mercedes chief executive, has approved Verstappen’s proposed move to Mercedes for F1 2026.
Piquet Jr, the former Renault F1 driver and brother of Verstappen’s partner Kelly Piquet, recently let slip that Verstappen is highly likely to start next season as a Mercedes driver.
.jpg)
.jpg)
0 Comments