“I want to stay at Red Bull for the entire contract, there is no reason to leave”

Max Verstappen made a few things clear at his press conference in Jeddah, one of the most anticipated and tense in recent years in Formula 1: he doesn’t care what Christian Horner continues to serve as director.He doesn’t want to leave Red Bull so far it remains the best team and he doesn’t want to appreciate his father’s words, Josh. However, he makes it clear that he cannot imagine himself in Formula 1 without his father.

The Dutchman is trying crushes rumors of leaving Mercedes in 2025 and assures that he will comply completely his agreementending with 2029 with the Austrian team. He also jokingly says: “I hope Red Bull doesn’t explode”.

Isolate yourself from noise

“Well, it’s not about being isolated from it. I think in Bahrain you could see that it doesn’t affect the team’s performance. Because ideally you as a team would like to have moments like this, but it also shows that “We’re all very focused on our jobs.”

Do you share what your father said about Horner?

“Well, I think, of course, I don’t know, because I’m a pilot, I don’t know what’s going on up there. But for my part, I was hired to focus solely on the performance aspect. And of course that’s what I’ll be focusing on this weekend.”

“And of course, ideally, what everyone said in Bahrain is to essentially put this behind us and hopefully have a little more relaxing weekend here.”

Jos’ statement that Red Bull is about to explode

“I don’t know, I mean, I hope not. It should not be, This is a strong company, a strong team, there are a lot of strong team members, so yeah, usually no.”

He talked to his father about it

“I was with him until yesterday, so mostly this morning. But I really don’t know, I mean, we talk all the time, we’re a team, it’s me, my dad and Raymond (Vermeulen, his manager), all together.”

“And it always will be, but I think he clearly felt that way. And I think that From my side it doesn’t matter to be on one side or the other, of course as my father’s son it would be strange to be on the other side, but from my side I only want to focus on performance. “And I just want to talk about what we do as a team on the track and the actual results. I think we have a great car now and we’re looking forward to a great year.”

Will you be able to stay at Red Bull if Christian stays?

The hint was that he would have to leave. I have seen many stories about this, which is not strange to read, but for my part I want this, and it does not matter who is on the team or not, it is certainly a relaxed environment where everyone is happy to work.”

Are you sure you will stay at Red Bull until the end of your contract?

Of course, that was always the purpose of the signing. That’s why we signed up for so long to be here. And, of course, we are talking about the characteristics of the car. And of course, starting from 2026, this is in question anyway with the new rules, but I knew that when I signed the contract. But I also know what they’ve done for me in my career, right? So of course I absolutely intend to stay with this team because I really enjoy it and I’m also very happy within the team. In the meantime, there’s no reason to leave.”

Future possibilities for Mercedes

“Well, you know, the thing is that I don’t think anyone realized or saw that Lewis had gone to Ferrari. And in my life, and it doesn’t matter, it has nothing to do with Formula 1 or anything else, it? right? It’s just life in general. You never know what is happening, or what is happening to you, or what is happening around you, or what may affect you. So? You can never say 100% that this will happen. And that’s how I approach my life, but I don’t think about it too much either. I’m very relaxed. As I said, I’m very happy in the team. So I’m happy in the team, there’s a game, there’s no reason to leave.”

Are you sure that Red Bull will have a good engine in 2026?

It’s impossible to know. It’s an ongoing effort and I know a lot of people are working very hard on the engine. And yes, relying on this process until the engine is completely ready needs to be fast.

His father and Vermeulen

“Of course I don’t see myself in Formula 1 without them.”

Do you expect your father and Horner to put their differences aside?

I think that for everyone in general, whether we have arguments or not, there are always things that can be resolved. In general, I think everyone is quite courageous and respectful of each other. I also don’t always agree with everything that happens, I’m not talking about the lady or anything like that. In general, in F1 and everything, so sometimes it is useful to discuss something. “Sometimes you can agree to disagree.”

Is it a problem when your father talks like that in public?

“Obviously, although he speaks for himself, you can understand why people would interpret that he also represents your point of view. Yeah, I mean, I can understand that. Of course, my father and I are very close. We call each other every day, even if “He’s not there or something like that. But on the other hand, I’m not the guy who likes to talk a lot about certain things. I just want to focus on driving. If there is a problem, I always try to solve it.” It’s within the team.”

Does he regret any of these comments?

“I think, as far as I know, he’s always very frank. He’s not a liar, that’s for sure.

Of course, that’s what I can say about things. I think overall for the team it’s very important from all aspects of the team. “We can finally talk about the performance of the great car we actually have, which no one seems to have talked much about in the last few days.”

In recent days, many negative stories have been told about his father.

“The only one who knows is my own father. The fact is that people will begin to invent and make assumptions. They think they know why he said certain things. But at the end of the day, he’s the only one who knows.” To “That’s what social media is, right? Speculation and fiction. There’s not much I can do about it.”