Red Bull Confirms Exit Clause in Max Verstappen’s Contract
Red Bull has confirmed that Max Verstappen has an exit clause in his contract, raising concerns about the Dutch driver’s potential departure.
Verstappen has been frustrated with Red Bull’s performance in recent months, as the team has not won a race since the Spanish Grand Prix on June 23. Speculation arose about the 27-year-old driver leaving the team, with suggestions he could replace Lewis Hamilton at Mercedes. However, that move did not happen, and the Silver Arrows opted to trust rookie driver Kimi Antonelli.
Despite the speculation, Helmut Marko did little to ease concerns about Verstappen’s future. The team’s senior advisor acknowledged that the three-time world champion has a performance-related exit clause and confirmed reports that he could leave if he believes Red Bull is not making progress in car development.
In an interview with, Marko stated, “There is a danger. Max is not the type to break Schumacher’s or Hamilton’s records. He wants to win when he gets in the car. However, the environment has to be right. If everything no longer fits him, you could expect him to say one day: ‘That’s it!’”
“Most of the best drivers have performance-related exit clauses. Max has one as well. This means that if we cannot provide him with a car that can compete at the front, this will definitely be something he considers,” he added.
Verstappen had previously held a significant lead in the Drivers’ Championship standings, but Lando Norris has narrowed that gap to 52 points. The Dutch driver’s dominance on the track has diminished, and after finishing second behind Norris in Singapore, he called on Red Bull to find more speed.
Verstappen stated, “I’ve been saying for weeks that we need to bring more performance to our car, and everyone in the team knows this. It seems that everyone around us is bringing more updates than we are. We definitely need to work on this and find more performance for our own car.”
“We’re currently just lacking a bit of speed. The gap between Checo and me is quite large, and I think that says a lot because I don’t believe Checo is getting worse.”
