Jos Verstappen has responded to the latest developments at Red Bull Racing. According to various major media, Adrian Newey has indicated internally that he wants to leave, and Verstappen senior, together with his son Max Verstappen and manager Raymond Vermeulen, will enter into serious discussions with the top management of Mercedes after the Miami weekend.
Verstappen first looked back on the start of his 26-year-old son’s season. ‘It’s going incredibly well. It is incredible how strong Max appears, also during the race,” says Verstappen senior proudly RaceXpress. ‘You just notice that he has everything under control and that he keeps an eye on everything. He is there in qualifying, so it is just nice to see him doing so.’
‘Max also learned from that’
In qualifying, Verstappen has taken all pole positions so far, and in China he even excelled with the four fastest laps of the qualifying session. A day earlier, the sprint qualification was the only downside of the weekend. ‘We knew he looked good in the match. The last part of qualifying (before the sprint race, ed.) was in the rain,” Verstappen indicates that those conditions differed from the rest of the weekend.
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Verstappen started the sprint race in fourth place, but ‘simply’ crossed the line first at the end of the race, with a lead of no less than thirteen seconds. ‘He said about that sprint qualification: I just couldn’t get any temperature in the tires. He also learned from that, so he noticed some things that he could benefit from. That indirectly helped him to perform better on Sunday.’ Verstappen won the Grand Prix with a great display of power.
Rumors
Verstappen himself was present in Wallonia, where he was still the leader at the Rally of Wallonia after the first day, but dropped out of a leading position on the second day. The 52-year-old Limburger was confronted with the message that Newey would be leaving Red Bull. ‘Normally I won’t say anything about it. What else can I say about it? I don’t know anything else about it,” Verstappen makes clear. ‘I know that there is basically a deal between him and Red Bull (until 2025, ed.). We’ll see about the rest, I can’t say anything about that.’
Earlier this season, Jos Verstappen warned that the Red Bull team was in danger of falling apart if Christian Horner stayed on. The first serious cracks in the Red Bull structure now seem to be becoming visible. However, Verstappen kept quiet about Newey. ‘We all know what he has achieved and how good he is.’
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‘The father of’ also responded to reports that serious talks would be initiated with Mercedes. Here too, Verstappen senior logically did not reveal the back of his tongue, but he did make it clear that there is still a lot open when it comes to his son’s future. ‘I think everyone really wants Max. I think Max is in a good place at the moment. He has a fast car, but we also have to look further,” Verstappen admits.
Verstappen seems to want to make it clear that nothing has been set in stone yet. ‘We are also looking at 2026, so we are letting everything happen to us. We will remain very calm and see what will happen.’ Verstappen has a contract with Red Bull until 2028, but could get out of it via clauses. Given Verstappen’s words, a switch to Mercedes in 2026, instead of 2025, is also a possibility.
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