Has Max Verstappen signed for Mercedes in 2026? Everything you need to know

Max Verstappen hasn’t officially signed with Mercedes but if current rumors are anything to go by, he could be heading to Mercedes in the 2026 F1 season. A recent report claims that both parties have come to an "informal agreement" for the future. As of now, neither Verstappen nor the German team has confirmed or denied anything about their rumored alliance.

Lewis Hamilton's announcement that he would join Ferrari in 2025 forced the Silver Arrows to start looking for a replacement driver. Names like Carlos Sainz, Fernando Alonso, Kimi Antonelli, and Max Verstappen came up in reports as potential replacements for Hamilton. Even though Mercedes is one of Red Bull's rivals, Verstappen was considered one of the candidates because of the turmoil his team has been experiencing this season.

Red Bull's team principal Christian Horner was investigated internally by the team for alleged inappropriate behavior against a female employee in February 2024. There was also a reported power struggle between Horner and the team's senior advisor, Helmut Marko. To top it all, the defending world champions' on-track performance started dipping, especially after the Austrian GP.

On the Mercedes side of things, team boss Toto Wolff has been trying to lure Verstappen to the team, even publicly hinting that his team was chasing the Red Bull star. Even though the eight-time world champions eventually hired their junior driver Kimi Antonelli to replace Hamilton in 2025, the reports about Verstappen joining the team have not died yet.

According to F1 Insider, Max's father Jos Verstappen and his manager Raymond Vermeulen recently reached an unofficial agreement with Mercedes that the Dutch star would join the Silver Arrows in 2026.

As of now, Max Verstappen has a long-term contract with Red Bull till 2028. However, reports suggest that there could be an exit clause that may allow the Dutchman to leave the Austrian giants in 2026.

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Toto Wolff focused on current driver lineup but open to future talks with Max Verstappen

Mercedes team boss Toto Wolff discussed a possible conversation with Max Verstappen regarding his arrival to the team in the future, especially after the team hired Kimi Antonelli as Lewis Hamilton's replacement for 2025.

Speaking to BBC Sport, Wolff said that it was too early to discuss future talks with the three-time world champion. He said:

"Much too early. For the benefit of our drivers next year, I don't want to have any conversation about 2026 or beyond, because we very much hope that the 2025 line-up will be the line-up going forward."

However, when asked if Mercedes and Verstappen could talk to each other about a partnership again, the Mercedes boss said:

"We have not given each other any, let's say, timings. It is more like, keep the communication channel open, while knowing that his priority is to make it function with Red Bull and our priority will be to make it function with the two drivers we have."

In the 2024 F1 season, Max Verstappen leads the drivers' championship with 313 points. He is being chased by McLaren's Lando Norris who has 254 points.