Jos Verstappen fires warning shot at Red Bull as Max Verstappen's future under fresh speculation once again

Former F1 driver and four-time F1 world champion Max Verstappen's father Jos has said his son could leave Red Bull if it continues to underperform in 2025. The 27-year-old won his fourth consecutive driver's championship in the 2024 season which concluded on December 8. He finished 63 points ahead of his title rival Lando Norris.

The Dutch driver had an inferior car for two-thirds of the season to the British driver but extracted the maximum out of his RB20 every weekend to not let the gap get too small. He also pounced on every letup by Norris in the races with ample damage limitation.

However, Verstappen's father was more wary of the RB21 as he fired warning shots regarding his son's future with the team, saying (via Münchner Merkur/tz):

"Red Bull needs to build a car that is no longer so difficult to drive. If you look at the second half of 2024, you cannot be optimistic. Anything is possible. He [Max Verstappen] can stay at Red Bull if he sees the point. His goal is to be able to win races. If he feels this is no longer possible at Red Bull, a switch is not out of the question."

Max Verstappen has a contract with Red Bull until the end of the 2028 season but there were speculations that he could break away from the Austrian team to join Mercedes in the future.

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Max Verstappen provides his thoughts on winning the title in 2025

Red Bull driver Max Verstappen has said he does not see himself winning the title for a fifth time in a row in 2025 if the car's performance remains the same as in the second half of last year (via De Telegraaf):

"If we continue like this, I won't be champion next year. It's as simple as that. We really need to make steps to be competitive next season. We all know that. I trust the team that they can fix the balance issues from last season. Certain things that we couldn't adjust last year will be changed for next year.

We know that we need to be better over the kerbs, bumps and in the slow corners. Those are generally our weaknesses. If we are still beaten then, it will be based on pure speed. I always keep the pressure on, also on myself. I try not to think too lightly about things. At one point the car was barely driveable. There was no more to get out of it than this."

At certain points in the 2024 season, Red Bull was the fourth-fastest team and needed several rescue drives from Verstappen to get a decent result. The slump in performance was one of the reasons behind the Austrian team losing the Constructor's Championship.