Max Verstappen wants to leave Red Bull as soon as possible: Reports

Recent reports claim that Max Verstappen wants to leave Red Bull as soon as possible. The Dutchman is currently struggling to win races while his team's rivals have picked up the pace in 2024.

According to PlanetF1, the three-time world champion allegedly wants to leave the Austrian team as soon as possible and can even take a sabbatical for a year. After that, he could assess his options and take the next step in 2026, when FIA changes the sport's technical regulations with new power unit rules.

The rumors about Verstappen's exit from Red Bull started in February when a female employee accused team principal Christian Horner of alleged 'inappropriate behavior'. As the team began its investigation, reports emerged that such chaos could steer Verstappen away from the team.

The rumor mill even churned out a possibility that the three-time world champion might move to Mercedes to replace his rival, Lewis Hamilton, who will join Ferrari in 2025. Silver Arrows head Toto Wolff also publicly wooed the Dutchman, urging him to join. However, the German team eventually hired their junior driver Kimi Antonelli for the 2025 F1 season.

Though every major team has their future driver lineup locked, rumors have once again emerged of Verstappen leaving. This time, it was reportedly linked to Red Bull's poor performance in recent races as he has not won in the last six Grand Prix in 2024. Teams like McLaren, Mercedes, and Ferrari have drastically closed the gap to the defending world champions.

Currently, the Dutch driver has a long-term contract with Red Bull that stretches to 2028. As of now, Verstappen continues to defend his championship in 2024. He stands P1 in the standings with 303 points. He is chased by McLaren's Lando Norris in P2 (241 points), and Ferrari's Charles Leclerc in P3 (217 points).

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Mercedes to "keep communication channel open" with Max Verstappen's camp for 2026

Mercedes team boss Toto Wolff recently talked about focusing on their new driver lineup with Kimi Antonelli and George Russell, but still keeping a string of connections with Max Verstappen for the future.

Speaking to BBC Sport, Wolff explained that it was too early to decide a driver lineup for 2026. He added that he and his team will be focusing on the current driver lineup, which recently got updated with Antonelli joining them in 2025.

"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," Wolff said.

He added:

"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."

There might still be chances for Verstappen to move to Mercedes down the line. As of now, nothing has been confirmed about his future.