Ecclestone says a Ferrari move would ‘finish’ Verstappen — and he’d bet on a rookie instead
Bernie being Bernie. The former F1 supremo has never been afraid to poke the paddock, and his latest volley is aimed straight at the sport’s biggest star. If Max Verstappen ever swaps Red Bull for Ferrari, Ecclestone says, that’s the end of the story.
“If he goes to Ferrari, it would be the end of his career,” he told Sport.de, adding a hopeful caveat: “Let’s hope that doesn’t happen.”
It’s a spicy take, even by Bernie standards, but it speaks to an uncomfortable truth about the pull and peril of Maranello. Ferrari still has the badge that can turn even the steeliest driver’s head. It also has the glare, the politics, and the pressure that can eat them alive. Lewis Hamilton’s high-profile switch has been box-office, but it hasn’t yet delivered the fairy-tale headlines many imagined when he signed. Charles Leclerc remains the team’s reference point on Sundays, and Hamilton is still chasing the rhythm that once looked effortless in silver.
Verstappen, for his part, has been at pains to stress he’s locked in with Red Bull for the 2026 rules reset, when Red Bull becomes a full-blown power unit manufacturer in partnership with Ford. He’s been unusually introspective about where the operation stands after years of dominance and a trickier 2025 that’s demanded more patience than he typically shows.
“I’m very focused on ’26 with the team,” Verstappen said recently. “We need to nail the regulations and be competitive from the start.” He described the current phase as a “slight rebuilding” — not a crisis, but a conscious tightening-up across the factory to ensure the next big step lands on time.
That 2026 pivot is the hinge on which so much silly-season speculation swings. Red Bull’s car and the Red Bull-Ford project hit the target? The Verstappen-to-anyone talk cools. Miss the mark? The long-rumoured escape clauses in his deal become more than background noise. If that door ever opens, Ferrari will always be the romantic option — and the lightning rod for opinion.
Ecclestone, though, isn’t having it. In fact, he’d rather Ferrari look past the megastars entirely if Hamilton were to move on. The 93-year-old name-checked two of 2025’s headline youngsters — Isack Hadjar and Gabriel Bortoleto — as the sort of hires the Scuderia should be brave enough to make.
“You have to choose an up-and-coming driver,” he said. “I would take the Brazilian Bortoleto, who I think will be very good, or Isack Hadjar. Bortoleto gets the job done. Put him in the right car and you’ll see.”
Hadjar and Bortoleto have both turned heads this year with speed and steel under pressure, and it’s not hard to see why the old powerbroker is smitten. Ferrari hasn’t gambled on a true rookie in a long time. The last decade has been about star power and safe hands. But in a cost-cap era obsessed with development feedback, tyre whispers and simulator chops, the new breed is graduating fast.
Still, this is Ferrari. The seat that fits almost nobody perfectly. Even Hamilton — the sport’s most decorated driver — has discovered it comes with an entirely different weather system. Verstappen has been courted by the Scuderia more than once and never been tempted enough to bite. That feels instructive. He thrives in an operation built around ruthless execution and minimal theatre. Ferrari lives on passion, tension and a national expectation that never sleeps. Oil and water? Maybe. Or maybe it’s just the wrong moment.
There’s also the cold strategic calculus. Red Bull knows that keeping Verstappen beyond 2025 is as much about convincing him the 2026 package will be a weapon as it is about money or sentiment. That’s why you hear him talk as much about structure and process as about lap time — he wants to see the machine behind him humming again. And he’s right: the quickest way to kill any Ferrari fantasy is to roll into the new regulations with a car that’s immediately in the fight.
As for Ecclestone’s verdict, it’s pure Bernie: provocative, reductive, and designed to set the phones buzzing in motorhomes up and down the paddock. Would Ferrari “finish” Verstappen? That’s a stretch. But would it dull the edges that make him devastating? In that environment, with that level of scrutiny, it’s a fair question.
For now, the man himself has little interest in hypotheticals. Verstappen’s eyes are on 2026 and making Red Bull-Ford sing from lap one. If they do, the most sought-after signature in the sport will probably remain under the same roof. And the Scuderia? They’ll keep knocking. That’s what Ferrari does.
