Max Verstappen has finally shut down one branch of the paddock rumour tree — the one that had him stepping away from Formula 1 altogether. The rest of it, though, is still very much alive.
Asked by De Telegraaf whether he’ll still be on the F1 grid in 2027, the four-time world champion didn’t hesitate. “Yes, definitely,” he said, caveating it only with the sort of “unless very crazy things happen” line that basically every top driver keeps in their back pocket. The key point was the follow-up: he can “confirm” he’ll stay in Formula 1.
That confirmation matters because the Verstappen discourse in early 2026 has been drifting into something more existential than the usual contract-watch. Red Bull’s dip relative to Mercedes, plus Verstappen’s well-documented dislike of the new regulations, has given the chatter a different edge: not just “where”, but “whether”.
He’s now answered the “whether”. The “where” remains a live wire.
Verstappen is still contracted to Red Bull until the end of 2028, thanks to the monster deal he signed back in 2022 — the longest single driver contract the sport had seen. On paper, that’s supposed to end the story. In reality, it hasn’t stopped rival teams being mentioned, and it hasn’t stopped Mercedes being the one that keeps coming back around.
Toto Wolff’s interest in Verstappen was never subtle when Mercedes needed a successor to Lewis Hamilton after his switch to Ferrari. Wolff eventually moved on and signed Kimi Antonelli, but the idea of Verstappen in silver never really left the conversation — and in Montreal, it found oxygen again.
On Thursday at the Canadian Grand Prix, Verstappen’s father Jos was spotted in conversation with Wolff in Mercedes hospitality. In a paddock where people read meaning into who shares a coffee machine, it didn’t take long for that image to do the rounds and for the Verstappen-to-Mercedes storyline to pick up speed again.
Verstappen didn’t bite on the theatrics. He also didn’t offer the clean “I’m staying” line Red Bull would love him to deliver.
“I’m not in a hurry, am I?” he said, when asked whether he’ll continue as a Red Bull driver next season. He reiterated what he’s said before — that, in an ideal world, he’d remain tied to Red Bull for life — but he made it clear a decision isn’t imminent and, crucially, that the decision isn’t solely about a race seat.
“I would prefer to stay connected to Red Bull for the rest of my life, I’ve always said that,” Verstappen explained. “But making that decision doesn’t have to be made today or tomorrow. Whether it is here or somewhere else; there is much more to it than just the Formula 1 contract.
“I’m also talking about all the other projects. I am also talking to Red Bull about that.”
That’s the tell. Verstappen’s world, as he frames it, is bigger than a two-year clause here or a performance trigger there. If he’s weighing “projects” alongside a contract, it speaks to a driver thinking about autonomy and the shape of his career — not just the next race weekend.
What he *won’t* do, he insisted, is pause the whole thing. A sabbatical is off the table.
“No, not a sabbatical,” Verstappen said. “I’m not the person for that. If I stop, I stop completely. That’s just not the case now.”
So the landscape looks like this: Verstappen will be in Formula 1 beyond this season, and he’s not walking away for a year to “reassess”. But he is leaving the door open on whether Red Bull is still the right place to spend those years — even if he’d like it to be.
It’s hard to ignore the competitive context underneath all of it. Verstappen lost the world title to McLaren’s Lando Norris last season, and this year Red Bull has slipped further behind the “rampant” Mercedes operation. After four rounds, Verstappen sits seventh in the standings on 26 points — a stark number next to Antonelli’s 100.
Those aren’t the margins of a single messy Sunday. That’s a season-starting deficit that changes how a driver talks, how a team listens, and how every casual sighting in a hospitality unit gets interpreted.
Verstappen, at least publicly, is trying to strip the emotion out of it. He described himself as “very relaxed” and urged people not to make it “too dramatic”. Even the possibility of things not working out with Red Bull was framed with an almost blunt acceptance: “Even if it doesn’t work out, it’s fine for me. That’s how I am in life.”
That line lands differently depending on which side of the garage you’re standing in. For Red Bull, it’s either an honest statement from a driver who’s been the centre of their universe — or the sort of calm detachment that precedes a seismic decision. For Mercedes, it’s exactly the kind of openness that keeps the paddock whispering long after the freight has left town.
For now, Verstappen has guaranteed the one thing he needed to: he’s staying in Formula 1. Everything else — including the colour of the overalls — remains deliberately unresolved.
