First things first: I can’t picture Max Verstappen actually having sleepless nights. Not with four world championships under his belt, a loving family at home, and plenty of enticing options tempting him outside of Formula 1.
And yet, the fact that things are going so badly for him in F1 right now must really sting. What’s worse, there is no sign improvements in the short- or medium-term future. Within just one year, his situation in the pinnacle of motorsport has deteriorated drastically.
Just a year ago, the F1 world seemed to lie at his feet. Granted, even back then, Red Bull wasn’t as strongly positioned performance-wise as in previous years, but the future still looked incredibly promising.
During the summer break, fans on the internet were stalking his and Mercedes boss Toto Wolff’s yachts off the coast of Sardinia, and everyone was talking about a move to the Silver Arrows. Wolff, at least, made no secret of his desire to sign the Dutchman – if not now, then at least further down the road.
At the time, staying with Red Bull seemed like a clever move for Verstappen. It allowed him to wait and see which team nailed the new regulations best before deciding where he wanted to drive in 2027.
But now, it seems he doesn't have the luxury of a free choice at all.
Rejections have flooded in from every potential top cockpit – including Mercedes. "We don’t want to change things. I think it’s a line-up that is good for us. I’m very happy with the two of them," Wolff had said before the Austrian Grand Prix, effectively slamming the door in Verstappen’s face.
The logic is obvious: Wolff is riding a wave of success with Mercedes and has absolutely no reason to tweak his line-up. George Russell is a dependable asset who enjoys full backing within the team, and Kimi Antonelli – who might have been loaned out to another team had he performed like last year – is simply blowing the competition away in 2026.
At 19 years old, the Italian still has heaps of development potential and he’s bound to be a lot cheaper than the four-time world champion.
The reigning world champions also seem noncommittal. While McLaren boss Zak Brown admitted that a name like Verstappen would certainly stir up excitement externally, talks with him led nowhere up until now. Besides, Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri are locked into long-term contracts. "I am very happy with our driver line-up," Brown stated.
That leaves Ferrari as the only viable option, as anything else would be a clear step down in performance. But Ferrari only renewed Charles Leclerc’s contract a few weeks ago. And with Lewis Hamilton having rediscovered his form and eager to keep racing, Ferrari would be crazy to show an F1 legend like him the door.
So, Verstappen’s only real option is Red Bull. Either that, or leaving Formula 1 entirely.
But at Red Bull, he seems to have lost faith. "They shouldn't ask me that anymore," he said on Saturday, firing a blunt response to reporters when asked about a potential championship comeback similar to last year.
Back then, Red Bull completely turned the tide against McLaren, bringing Verstappen right back into the title hunt. But he clearly doesn't trust his team to pull off the same feat this season.
Quite the contrary: The 28-year-old pulled no punches after qualifying, where he ended up in seventh place behind team-mate Isack Hadjar: "It's embarrassing, it's bad," he said.
He wasn’t referring to his own performance, but rather that of the car, which lacked top speed on top of having terrible balance – even though the internal combustion engine is supposedly the best in the field according to the FIA, which is why Red Bull Ford aren't allowed any extra development time.
Verstappen’s next grievance: After the botched qualifying session, he actually wanted to start from the pitlane to change something on the car. But Red Bull had other ideas and didn't listen to their driver. "I don't know," he replied when asked for the reasons. "They were maybe confident to fix it, which I was not."
Accordingly, Verstappen wasn't surprised to encounter the exact same issues during the race. However, the absolute low point of the weekend came five laps from the end, when TV cameras caught a cloud of dust that ultimately revealed itself to be the RB22.
Instead of standing on the podium, Verstappen’s race ended in the gravel trap, leaving him absolutely seething: "This fucking car, unbelievable," he ranted over the radio, before doubling down in front of the microphones: "This cannot be happening. At that point it's super dangerous, because you can really hurt yourself, two times. I was lucky in Austria, I was lucky here, but that's why you get really fed up with it."
Verstappen had crashed out in a very similar fashion during qualifying in Spielberg and team principal Laurent Mekies had blamed a car defect back then, too. Once again, Mekies took the blame: "He's right not to be happy," Mekies admitted sheepishly. "It is very unpleasant for drivers to be let down by the car in the high-speed corners in two consecutive races, albeit for two different reasons."
The house is on fire at Red Bull. No matter how nice their current side-successes might be – like strong results from the Racing Bulls or junior driver Nikola Tsolov’s three consecutive wins in Formula 2 – when Verstappen is unhappy, everything else becomes irrelevant.
Verstappen will likely have to accept that F1 won't be much fun for him in the near future, neither in terms of pure racing nor sporting success.
The departure of the four-time world champion would be a massive loss for Red Bull and Formula 1 – but a massive gain for any other racing series he might be drawn to. The Nurburgring knows that already.
