Major developments on Max Verstappen's future as F1 Spanish GP could decide his 2026 fate: Reports

Max Verstappen's door to a future away from Red Bull in 2026 could be closed if the Dutch driver is more than 50 points ahead of Charles Leclerc by the end of the F1 Spanish GP. Motorsport.com have reported that the clause in the Dutch driver's contract states that if he is fourth or above in the championship standings by the Austrian GP, the exit clause cannot be exercised.

As we head to Barcelona, the Dutch driver is currently third in the standings and 25 points behind championship leader Oscar Piastri. There is, however, another detail that is important and one that Red Bull would be keeping an eye on.

Charles Leclerc in fifth position is 57 points behind Max Verstappen, and if, by the end of the race weekend, the driver is more than 50 points ahead, he would not go below P4 in the championship standings by the Austrian GP, i.e. the end of June.

Hence, if by the time the F1 Spanish GP is done and Charles Leclerc does not outscore Max Verstappen by more than seven points, the Dutch driver's future would be sealed with Red Bull for the 2026 F1 season. Verstappen's future has been a topic of consideration for many, especially since the Austrian team has suffered in the last 12 months with a regressive performance curve.

Things are on an upward trajectory for Red Bull currently, as the team's upgrades in Imola appeared to work. Max Verstappen ended up winning the race and hence closed the gap to the front. For the Austrian team, however, it would still be a sigh of relief if the 4x F1 champion's future is secured with the squad.

Max Verstappen on the impact of flexiwings on Red Bull

At the F1 Spanish GP, the technical directive that triggers a clampdown on flexiwings will come into effect. As part of the directive, the teams would now have to use a stiffer front wing that does not have the same level of flexing as the previous iterations. There's still a lack of clarity on which teams would be impacted more and which ones would not have much effect.

Max Verstappen, however, is quite sure that things won't change much for Red Bull. The Austrian team has not had the best implementation when it comes to wings that flex a lot, and hence, he doesn't expect much change in how the RB21 would behave. He said (via a separate Motorsport report):

"Not for us. I can say that with quite a lot of confidence. I think those wings never really gave us a massive performance gain. I don't know if we got it wrong or didn't extract the most out of it."

The Dutch driver will be hoping for an impact on McLaren, as the Woking-based team had the best solutions in place when it came to flexiwings.