Verstappen remains tight-lipped on F1 future but rules out sabbatical

It appears everyone is now talking about Max Verstappen’s Formula 1 future – apart from the four-time world champion himself. 

At his cagey media session at Silverstone, in a Red Bull motorhome heaving with print journalists asking similar questions to last week’s Austrian Grand Prix, Verstappen quickly made clear he wouldn’t respond to questions about 2026. 

Afterwards, he went to the more relaxed TV pen to speak to his preferred Dutch broadcaster Viaplay to debrief the session. “Well, they all got very short answers, so that was perfect actually,” Verstappen deadpanned. 

Nothing has changed from last week, so why would he break his resolve? Mercedes was reportedly approached by his representatives to inquire about future plans, which is partly why the team boss Toto Wolff has yet to re-sign George Russell or Andrea Kimi Antonelli for next year. Russell said his chances of changing teams in 2026 were “exceptionally low.” 

Combining F1 with sportscars? 

But, perhaps unlike some members of his entourage, Verstappen himself still doesn’t appear in a hurry to go anywhere. And he at least ruled out one unlikely theory of him taking a sabbatical year in 2026, before assessing his options and observing which team has started off best with the new regulations. 

The sabbatical wasn’t an outrageous theory, as people close to the Dutchman had wondered if his love for the racing was still making up having to tolerate the circus around it. His nascent GT3 team won its class at the Spa 24 Hours last week, too, with Verstappen keen to watch the conclusion of the race after being taken out by Antonelli on the first lap. 

But while Verstappen said he’s hoping to be able to combine his F1 activities with more GT3 running in the future, he dismissed any notion that he’ll walk away from F1 before 2028. 

“No, no, no. F1 for sure,” he said. “And I’ll try to, of course, in the future combine it with any kind of other racing that is possible, what I can prepare for. Because I do want to, of course, explore a bit out of Formula 1, which I’m already doing with testing, but eventually also racing.” 

Too many unknowns for 2026 

Verstappen did acknowledge that there are no firm answers on who will really be on top in 2026, which is the picture his clan is likely trying to piece together. 

“That’s right. That’s why I’m contracted to Red Bull,” he added. “I think no one can say 100% sure that they will be pretty comfortable next year. There will be so many unknowns anyway for next year. And the only thing that I have to do is drive whatever I have fast. 

“The thing is also, when you look at the previous regulations, I think no one would have expected McLaren to suddenly [become dominant]. Sometimes it takes a bit of time to get everything together. Now it was the opposite for us. We did everything really well from the start of the new regulations and then towards the end, it was a bit of a struggle. That is something that we have to figure out, why we didn’t hit the same kind of progression as maybe some other teams. 

“But then again, 2026 is completely different, and something completely different that you need from a car. In the previous generation of cars, we had the opposite. We were off in the beginning and then towards the end, we actually made it work.”