Verstappen Mercedes €150M Offer

Will Max Verstappen remain with Red Bull Racing after 2024? Is he tired of all the hassle surrounding the team, especially now that Adrian Newey is leaving?

It’s a fact that Mercedes F1 would love to have Max Verstappen for 2025, especially with the new rules coming in 2026.

Toto Wolff, Ineos, and Mercedes would allegedly put up €150 million a year, according to speculation.

In Miami, Verstappen was asked if this mega-offer of €150 million was indeed on the table. He did not deny it and even spoke openly about it.

“Well, for now, my future is with Red Bull.”

“Ultimately, even if, let’s say, it were the case, €150 million, money will not be a differentiating factor for me to go somewhere. I’m already happy with what I earn. It’s a matter of performance. I know if I’m driving for 5th or 6th place, and you get quite grumpy when that happens as I do, it’s always about performance in the end, everyone knows it, Toto knows it too. He knows what I want.”

Wolff has repeatedly indicated that he is willing to wait for Verstappen. The Dutchman certainly does not find Wolff’s optimism strange.

“I think everyone should always be optimistic and hopeful. But for now, I can say that I want to stay with the team because I believe in the project we have with everyone involved. If the environment remains what I want, I see no reason to leave. But as I said earlier, we don’t know what will happen in the future.”

A direct reference to the ongoing power struggle at Red Bull, as well as concerns about the 2026 project. Without Adrian Newey and with an engine being developed by a brand-new department, doubts are inevitably present. Verstappen, however, is not too concerned about what might happen soon.

“I’m not thinking about it at the moment, no. I mean, it’s something I’m not really thinking too much about right now. There’s so much going on this year, the performance is good and I want to do well next year too, where I think we will still have a great chance to perform well since the rules won’t change.”

“So, 2026 in that sense, is quite far away.”

Is this a way of telling Toto Wolff that a solution needs to be found for him to remain at Red Bull in 2025 before moving to Mercedes F1?