Christian Horner responds to suggestions of Max Verstappen and Mercedes having conversations about the future

Red Bull team principal Christian Horner shut down any suggestions that Max Verstappen and Mercedes were having conversations about the future and termed them as "noise" ahead of the 2025 Austrian GP. The Dutch driver's future with the Austrian team was once again called into question after Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff expressed his interest in signing the former for the 2026 season.

The 27-year-old has been part of the Milton Keynes-based outfit since the middle of the 2016 season and has won 65 races and four consecutive championships in the period. After winning his maiden title in Abu Dhabi in 2021, Verstappen extended his contract with Red Bull until the end of the 2028 season.

However, Verstappen has been on Wolff's radar for a long time, with the Austrian even holding talks last year. Speaking with ViaPlay, Christian Horner shut down any reports of Max Verstappen and Mercedes having talks and said:

"To be honest, we don't pay much attention to it. They are just rumors. We know very well where we stand with Max and where we stand contractually with Max. So yes, the rest is just a lot of noise at this point."

In the team principal's press conference, Wolff too dodged the subject but confirmed that talks were being held behind closed doors:

"I want to just have the conversations behind closed doors, not town halls. We have two drivers that have been in our programme for a long time, drivers that I'm perfectly happy to have, drivers that will do great in the future of the team. So, it's a bit different situation."

Max Verstappen has a contract in place until the end of the season; however, several performance clauses could see him terminate his deal early.

Max Verstappen comments on his future with Red Bull

Red Bull driver Max Verstappen stated that he had nothing new to say regarding his contract with the Austrian team than his comments from last year, amid new interest from Mercedes.

In the pre-race press conference, the four-time F1 world champion gave a slightly irked reaction on the subject and said:

"I’ve had that question before as well in my life! I don’t think we need to talk about that. I don’t know, do you want me to repeat what I said last year? I don’t know. It’s the same answer. I don’t even remember what I said last year, really. But again, it’s not really on my mind. Just driving well, trying to push the performance, and then we focus on next year."

Toto Wolff had tried to sign Max Verstappen initially in 2014 but lost out to Helmut Marko, who offered the latter the chance to join Toro Rosso in 2015 straight after F1.