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Why Ford could hold the key to Max Verstappen’s future
Max Verstappen is currently under contract with Red Bull through the 2028 season. But could the world champion make a shocking move to another team at the end of his current deal, or leave Formula 1 entirely?
And might Ford somehow hold the key to his racing future?
Verstappen has certainly opened the door to leaving F1 before. Speaking ahead of the Azerbaijan Grand Prix, the first sprint race of the 2023 F1 season, the Red Bull driver hinted at leaving the sport behind if changes continued to be made to the schedule. “I think that’s much better for the excitement. Naturally, I hope there won’t be too many changes; otherwise, I won’t do it, I won’t be here for long,” Verstappen told Portugal’s Sport TV.
Now Verstappen is talking even more about his F1 future. In an interview with Sky Sports, the Red Bull driver talked about what it would take to leave his current team at the end of his deal, and the racing interests he has outside of F1.
“I love racing otherwise I wouldn’t be on the simulator at home doing other kinds, but that’s the thing, I also like doing other kinds of racing, not only Formula 1,” Verstappen said to Sky Sports. “I know that I will be 31 when it’s the end of my contract. At that point already I will have been in F1 a very long time and it’s a lot of work.”
Verstappen then talked about motivation, and staying competitive year after year.
“I like to be competitive, and I like to win but if you can’t fully motivate yourself to get to every race, then that’s the point you have to question yourself, ‘do you really want to continue?’”
For Verstappen, winning is everything. But the Red Bull driver wants to challenge himself in other competitions beyond F1, and understands that the longer he waits to take on those challenges, the less competitive he may be.
That may align with where he is in life at the end of his Red Bull deal.
“I love doing Le Mans, I love doing other 24-hour races, I love watching the GT3 cars go around the Nordschleife,” said Verstappen. “All these kind of things I want to experience in my life and I don’t want to be doing them when I’m 40 or 50 because then I’m not at the peak of my performance. When I’m 31, I’m pretty sure I’m still capable of doing great things.”
While Verstappen may ultimately remain in F1 when his contract with Red Bull is up in 2028, would that competitive drive see him make a shocking move to another team?
That all comes down to the car Red Bull can give him, and with new engine regulations coming in 2026, Verstappen’s Red Bull future may lie in the hands of Ford. The team announced a partnership with Ford back in February, with Ford becoming the power unit supplier for the team starting with the 2026 season.
If Ford and Red Bull can deliver a fast enough car, Verstappen is likely to stick around. Otherwise, all bets are off.
“It also depends a bit how competitive we’re going to be over here in 2028,” Verstappen told Sky Sports about his racing future.
“I think it would be very hard to leave, for sure,” said Verstappen on what things would look like if Red Bull still had the dominant car on the grid.
Verstappen also addressed the ever-present Ferrari rumors. Over the weekend speculation grew about his future with the Scuderia, as Le Mans driver Richard Bradley tapped Verstappen for a move to Ferrari in a discussion with On Track GP:
“I think that Max is going to end up at Ferrari in a couple of years. It wouldn’t surprise me, I think especially if he keeps on winning titles and he starts to get complacent, and people start saying ‘Oh, is he the greatest of all time?’
“Max is the sort of guy that goes ‘Okay, well I’ll do what Schumacher did: I’ll take Ferrari from not being in the position to win, to make them World Champions’. The reason I think this is because Max is on the path to greatness, we can all see that, he’s on a meteoric rise, he’s dominant at the minute, he’s had two World Championships in the Red Bull, but we’ve never actually seen him do what defines the true greats.
Verstappen addressed Ferrari in his chat with Sky Sports, outlining that what matters is not the logo on the side of the car, but the car itself.
“People always ask me if I have a dream team,” he said. “I know Ferrari has an amazing history in Formula 1 and is an amazing team to race for, but I always said to myself I just want to be in the fastest car.”
“I had to wait a few years to be in the fastest car and now we do have the fastest car and that is a great feeling. At this stage, if it happens, it happens but I’m very happy where I am and for me personally, the desire of having to drive for one particular team at all costs, no.”
