According to McLaren CEO Zak Brown, Max Verstappen will leave Red Bull to join Mercedes starting from the next season.
Zak Brown drops a market bomb for the upcoming season. According to the McLaren CEO, Max Verstappen is expected to say goodbye to Red Bull at the end of this season and then join Mercedes starting from 2026. It’s no secret that there have been talks between Toto Wolff and the Dutch driver (which Max himself has confirmed), and with the change in regulations, the parties could get even closer.
These are Zak Brown’s words in detail: “I think he will leave at the end of this year,” Brown predicted about Verstappen in an interview with The Telegraph. “Most likely to Mercedes. There was also talk of Aston Martin, with the arrival of Adrian Newey, but no matter how great Adrian is — and he’s the greatest of all time — you need a whole team around you. You need the culture. It takes time.
If I had to bet, I would bet on Mercedes because, in the last 10 years, they’ve won the championship seven or eight times. Last year they won five races. They have stability. Also, we know Toto likes him, and I think we all believe that HPP (Mercedes High Performance Powertrains) is the best-equipped in terms of power units for the new engine regulations next year.”
Aston Martin is also tracking Max Verstappen, and according to some rumors, they’ve put a five-year contract worth 200 million euros per year on the table to convince the four-time world champion to join the British team. However, much will depend on the new regulations and the way the teams work, and at the moment, it seems that Mercedes is ahead of everyone in terms of project development.
