Max Verstappen ‘annoyed’ as George Russell bombshell triggers Horner response
Will Max Verstappen leave Red Bull for Mercedes for F1 2026?
Christian Horner, the Red Bull team principal, has claimed that Max Verstappen “gets quite annoyed” by rumours linking him with a move to Mercedes for the F1 2026 season.
And he has argued that George Russell is growing “frustrated” with his lack of progress towards a new Mercedes contract.
Christian Horner: Max Verstappen ‘quite annoyed’ by Red Bull exit rumours
Russell is close to entering the final six months of his existing Mercedes deal with the four-time race winner still without a contract for next season.
In an interview ahead of today’s Austrian Grand Prix, Russell claimed that “ongoing” negotiations between Verstappen and Mercedes are delaying a decision on his future.
Despite being officially under contract until the end of the 2028 season, Verstappen has been persistently linked with a move away from Red Bull over the last 12 months in light of the team’s competitive decline.
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Horner confirmed to media including PlanetF1.com last year that Verstappen’s deal contains a “performance element” that could allow the reigning World Champion to leave before 2028.
It has been speculated that Verstappen will be free to activate an exit clause in his contract if he is lower than third in the Drivers’ standings after a certain point of the season, believed to be around the time of next month’s summer break.
Speaking after qualifying in Austria on Saturday, Horner claimed that Verstappen is irritated by the speculation surrounding his Red Bull future.
And he reiterated the fact that the four-time World Champion remains under contract until the end of 2028.
He told Sky F1: “It’s a lot of noise.
“I think Max gets quite annoyed by it and we’re very clear with the contract that we have with Max until 2028, so anything is entirely speculative that is being said.
“But we tend not to pay too much attention to it.”
Asked if the rumours of Verstappen’s potential departure may have been planted by Mercedes in an attempt to overshadow Red Bull’s home race, Horner replied: “I can imagine that George is frustrated he hasn’t been given a contract yet, but that’s between him and his team.
“But the situation with Max, we know clearly where we’re at and, obviously, as does Max.
“Everything is subject to noise and, obviously, within any contract, it remains confidential between the parties.”
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Horner’s comments come after Toto Wolff, the Mercedes team boss, conceded that there is a small likelihood of Verstappen racing for Mercedes in F1 2026 at this stage.
Wolff made no secret of his desire to sign Verstappen after Lewis Hamilton’s shock switch to Ferrari was announced last year before ultimately electing for Andrea Kimi Antonelli, the teenage sensation, as Russell’s new team-mate.
He told Sky F1: “I think when you look at the situation we have with Kimi and George, we have a perfect lineup that we very much enjoy, that we believe is the future.
“But at the same time, there is a four-time World Champion that needs to decide what he’s going to do in the future.
“And as a team principal, you need to see where that is going.
“But I think I give it a very little probability that this is going to happen.
“I don’t know what’s going to [happen] in three or five years. That’s why you need to look at what should be considered for the long term.”
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In 2024, the late F1 team owner Eddie Jordan claimed that Wolff had met with Mercedes chief executive Ola Kallenius and one-third Mercedes team owner Sir Jim Ratcliffe to prepare a “fighting fund” to cover Verstappen’s salary, with the Red Bull driver aware of the meeting.
Jordan, who famously predicted Hamilton’s move from McLaren to Mercedes at the end of 2012, remarked that it would be no surprise if Verstappen were to make the move to Brackley at some point in the near future.
Yet despite the close relationship between Wolff and Verstappen’s father Jos, the Verstappen camp have consistently attempted to downplay talk of a potential transfer to Mercedes in public.
On the eve of the F1 2025 season, Verstappen Sr described a Dutch F1 pundit’s prediction that the World Champion will drive for Mercedes next year as “nonsense.”
Speaking to media including PlanetF1.com in Thursday’s FIA press conference in Austria, Verstappen himself dismissed suggestions that he could move away from Red Bull.
Asked directly if he will start next season at Red Bull, he replied: “I’ve had that question before as well in my life!”
Pressed on the matter, he added: “I don’t think we need to talk about that.
“I don’t know, do you want me to repeat what I said last year? I don’t know. It’s the same answer.
“I don’t even remember what I said last year, really. But again, it’s not really on my mind.
“Just driving well, trying to push the performance and then we focus on next year.”
More on Max Verstappen and Red Bull from PlanetF1.com
Rumours have persisted for some time that Mercedes will have the most potent engine on the grid when Formula 1’s new rules – which will see the sport embrace 50 per cent electrification, fully sustainable fuels and active aerodynamics – come into effect in F1 2026.
Mercedes previously emerged as F1’s dominant force following the last major engine changes in 2014, with the Brackley team winning a record eight consecutive Constructors’ Championships and seven Drivers’ titles split between Hamilton (six) and Nico Rosberg (one).
F1 2026 will see Red Bull’s newly established Powertrains division produce its own engine for the first time in collaboration with US giants Ford as current engine supplier Honda enters a new partnership with the Aston Martin team.
A report ahead of April’s Bahrain Grand Prix claimed that only one of the five F1 2026 engine manufacturers – Mercedes, Ferrari, Audi, Honda and RBPT-Ford – is in ‘good shape’ for next season.
It was suggested that two manufacturers are ‘a long way behind’ the clear pacesetters with another struggling with an ‘uncompetitive’ engine having opted for a different form of biofuel compared to its rivals.
Little is known about the progress of the fifth engine maker in question.
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