Bernie Ecclestone has never been one for nuance when a punchline will do, and he’s applied the same blunt instrument to the paddock’s loudest what-if: Max Verstappen in red.
Speaking in Austria, Ecclestone argued Verstappen’s best window to jump to Ferrari has already closed — not because the idea lacks appeal, but because the Scuderia, in his view, comes bundled with a familiar set of complications. He boiled it down, characteristically, to “too many Italians” in the decision-making chain.
That line will land the way these lines always do: half as a jab, half as a warning. But it also points to the more interesting part of Ecclestone’s take — not the fantasy of Verstappen-to-Ferrari itself, but the trade-off between raw performance potential and organisational clarity, at a moment when Verstappen’s own contractual leverage is very real.
Verstappen’s Red Bull deal runs to the end of 2028, yet the sport knows contracts only matter until they don’t. In this case, the “don’t” is a clause tied to his championship position at the summer break: if he’s below second in the drivers’ standings, he has a route out.
With three races left until that cut-off, Verstappen sits 58 points behind second-placed George Russell. It’s a sizeable gap, and it’s why the usual silly-season noise has turned into something more purposeful: not just idle speculation, but teams and drivers watching points swings like they’re reading tea leaves.
The obvious destinations have been thrown around in the usual way. Mercedes was linked, until Toto Wolff effectively dismissed the idea by insisting he “does not want to change things”. McLaren has also been mentioned, but it’s hard to see Woking voluntarily unsettling a line-up it considers both fast and stable. Zak Brown has been clear that neither Lando Norris nor Oscar Piastri is looking elsewhere, and McLaren isn’t shopping.
Ecclestone’s view is that Verstappen has to treat it like a genuine balance-sheet decision, not an emotional one — and that’s a slightly different tone from the one-liners he’s famous for.
“You have to weigh all of these things,” he said. “What’s the upside and what’s the downside?
“If he stays, is it bad and how bad? If he goes, where does he go and will it be better? Not easy.”
Asked outright where he’d have pushed Verstappen, Ecclestone didn’t hesitate: Ferrari — but last year.
The timing matters. Ferrari’s 2026 picture isn’t open-ended. Charles Leclerc has signed a new long-term extension, and Lewis Hamilton has made it clear he isn’t going anywhere. Hamilton is also reported to hold an option that only he can activate for 2027. In other words, even if Verstappen woke up tomorrow and decided Maranello was the move, the seats aren’t there for next season.
That, in a way, makes Ecclestone’s comments less about a literal transfer and more about a diagnosis of what Verstappen would be buying into.
Ferrari sits second to Mercedes in the constructors’ championship, but the season hasn’t been free of self-inflicted wounds. The team has been criticised for strategy errors and questioned over its development direction. While rivals have staggered upgrades, Ferrari went hard with a major push at the Miami Grand Prix — then ended up trying to work out why it unravelled, as the team recorded its first Grand Prix weekend off the podium.
It’s that context that gives Ecclestone’s “too many Italians” crack its sharper edge. He’s essentially arguing Ferrari’s problem isn’t talent or budget or ambition; it’s authority. Too many voices, too much second-guessing, not enough ownership.
“You just need really one person do this or do that,” he said. “Whether they’re right or wrong, time will tell them.”
You don’t have to agree with the framing — or the stereotype — to recognise the underlying point: top drivers don’t just choose cars, they choose environments. Verstappen, perhaps more than anyone, has built his modern dominance around a team structure that is clear about who decides what, and when. If he ever does look elsewhere, that’s likely to be the first filter, not the last.
Still, Ecclestone also delivered the other line that will resonate with anyone who’s ever run a racing team, or watched one try to climb the order the hard way: sign the driver who shifts the baseline.
“If I had a team now, the first thing I’d like to do is get Max onboard at whatever cost,” he said, “because it’s cheaper than me trying to build a new car.”
That’s the crux. Verstappen doesn’t just add lap time; he changes what a team thinks is possible, week to week. He drags development, sharpens race execution, and removes excuses. Even in an era where the cars are so politically and technically regulated, there are still drivers who move the centre of gravity — and Verstappen is the clearest example on the grid.
For now, the practical reality remains: Ferrari’s locked, Mercedes says it’s not shopping, McLaren says it’s not selling. And Red Bull, despite the clause hanging in the air, still holds Verstappen’s long-term commitment on paper.
But as the summer-break deadline approaches, the story isn’t really about which logo Verstappen might wear. It’s about whether the sport’s most valuable driver is about to gain the kind of contractual oxygen that makes everyone else — team principals included — speak a little more carefully.
