Max Verstappen Confirms That He Is Sticking With Red Bull In 2026

Guys… it is settled. No more rumors, no more speculation, no more questions, because the man himself has made it official: Max Verstappen is sticking with Red Bull in 2026.

Ahead of the Hungarian Grand Prix, the reigning four-time world champion put the rumors to rest and confirmed that he will be part of Red Bull's driver lineup in 2026, following rumors that he was considering leaving the team before the end of his current deal to join Mercedes.

"The thing is, people are waffling so much throughout the whole season while the only one that actually can or should speak is not speaking," Verstappen said ahead of the weekend, per Formula1.com. "That's me, and I do that on purpose because it makes no sense to start throwing things around and actually that should be the same for everyone.

Verstappen slammed the rumors, including those that stemmed from the fact that his boat was near Mercedes boss Toto Wolff's over the July break.

"Some people just like to stir the pot, some people just like to create drama but for me it's always been quite clear and also for next year," he said. "I'm discussing with the team already the plans, the things that we want to change next year so that means I'm also staying with the team for next year and if my boat is next to Toto's then the boat is next to Toto's.

"You can have a personal relationship with someone even if you don't have a working relationship with someone."

Then Verstappen made it official.

"I think it's time to basically stop all the rumors, and for me it's always been quite clear that I was staying anyway," he said.

F1 champion Max Verstappen has confirmed that he will stick with Red Bull after rumors circulated that he'd move to their arch rivals, Mercedes, as soon as next season. (Photo by Mark Sutton - Formula 1/Formula 1 via Getty Images)

Sticking With Red Bull Is The Right Call For Max

Verstappen's announcement comes after Red Bull Advisor Helmut Marko confirmed that he would be with the team next season, as well as reports that Verstappen's performance clause, which would allow him to leave early, requires him to be in P4 or lower by the Hungarian Grand Prix.

Seeing as he is P3 and 28 points clear of Mercedes' George Russell, he will leave Hungary in P3 even if he fails to finish and Russell wins.

While Red Bull has been struggling, Max making a jump in 2026 could be a big mistake given that F1 and the FIA are introducing new regulations — including brand-new engines — are almost certainly going to shake up the running order.

So, trying to pin down which team is going to be the one that will be at the top of the heap next season and beyond is tough.

By sticking around for 2026, Verstappen can get a sense of where Red Bull and all the other teams are coming to grips with the new regulations.

Maybe Mercedes struggles, and Red Bull builds a rocket? Maybe Red Bull struggles so badly that he is able to trigger a performance clause and move on to a front-runner in 2027.

Similar situations have befallen other championship drivers who joined the right team at the wrong time. Fernando Alonso has done that like four times.

Plus, it's worth seeing how the rest of this season and next go with Laurent Mekies taking over as team boss from Christian Horner. The latter had been the only team principal in the team's history, and he was, by all accounts, a very different kind of person and manager than Mekies.

So, I don't think Max is going to regret sticking with Red Bull, since, as I mentioned, he might want to have a look around the grid as the teams all come to grips with some big changes for next season.