Christian Horner drops a subtle hint to Max Verstappen that joining Mercedes could be a mistake

Red Bull boss Christian Horner dropped a subtle hint to his driver Max Verstappen that moving to Mercedes could be a mistake. The Austrian team has had a drastic fall from prominence since it dominated the sport in 2023, in which it lost just one race.

Since then, the 2024 F1 season saw Red Bull lose the Constructors' title to McLaren while Max Verstappen held on to the Drivers' championship. This time around in 2025, Red Bull is in no position to win the Constructors' championship. At the same time, there is a high likelihood that the Dutch driver might also be out of contention for the championship.

During all of this, rumors of a possible conversation between Max Verstappen and Mercedes have surfaced. George Russell was the first one to reveal that the two parties were in talks. Since then, Toto Wolff has also confirmed the same.

At the same time, the Italian media sent the rumor mill into overdrive by claiming that Max Verstappen had given his consent to a potential move to Mercedes.

During the FIA press conference, Red Bull's Christian Horner was one of the people grilled as he swatted away the suggestions that Verstappen could be in talks with Mercedes for a possible move. The team boss did, however, touch on the potential pecking order in 2026.

The Red Bull said that no one has any idea about the pecking order next season and, in a subtle message to Verstappen, he said that there's no guarantee that Mercedes would be fastest. He said:

"Nobody with hand on heart can know what the pecking order is going to be – it could be either one of these gentleman [McLaren’s Brown and Aston Martin’s Andy Cowell] sat next to me, it could be Ferrari, it could be Mercedes, it could be anyone."

He added:

“I think there’s an awful lot of subjectiveness to 2026, and it will only be this time next year that you’ll have a clear indication of what that pecking order is. There are no guarantees that jumping into a Mercedes car would automatically be a better proposition.”

Max Verstappen and Red Bull clear on where they stand

Max Verstappen has often expressed interest in staying with Red Bull until the end of his career, which could potentially happen by the end of his current contract with the team in 2028.

Talking about his driver, Horner said that the team cannot control the narrative on the outside, even though on the inside, it knew where everyone was. He said:

"Everybody’s very clear on where we’re at. Max has been with Red Bull since the very start of his career, all of his success has come in Red Bull Racing cars, and he’s been a big part of our team and he has a great deal of faith in the team and the people around him."

He added:

“Whilst there’s always going to be speculation and noise, I think we all sit fairly comfortable with where we’re at and what the situation is. We can’t control the narrative of others, but internally we know where we’re at.”

It would be interesting to see what the next steps are in this saga because it does appear that until the end of the summer break, this is going to ramble on.