Max Verstappen claims “next season is always a question mark” amid Red Bull future uncertainty

Max Verstappen has been all over the web in regard to the 2026 Mercedes seat at the ongoing 2025 Austrian Grand Prix race weekend. In line with this, he has come up with a fascinating take on his future during a media interaction in the Red Bull hospitality.

Verstappen is contracted to the Milton Keynes-based team until the end of the 2028 season. However, taking into consideration the unpredictable nature of the sport, anything is possible.

At the Red Bull Ring, it was confirmed by the Mercedes boss Toto Wolff that he was interested in Max Verstappen. Amid all kinds of things that have been swirling on the web regarding the Mercedes-Verstappen talks, the latter added, via Motorsport:

"I just want to concentrate first on the steps we can still take now. Next year is always a question mark, and this season doesn’t really influence that. We’ll see," Verstappen said.

The 27-year-old has been making his trade with the Red Bull Formula 1 team since 2016. He has, over the years, amassed four Drivers' championships with the team and has also experienced an extremely successful F1 season.

In 2022, the Dutchman secured an impressive 15 Grand Prix wins in a 22-race season. He was also able to put on board 17 podium finishes.

Max Verstappen's take on working with a different race engineer in Austria

Max Verstappen has had Gianpiero Lambiase as his race engineer ever since he joined Red Bull in 2016. The latter has always been at the side of Verstappen, but during the ongoing Austrian Grand Prix weekend, Lambiase has taken a leave due to personal reasons.

In line with this, the Italian-British engineer has been replaced by Simon Rennie. The latter has previously worked as a race engineer for top drivers like Mark Webber, Daniel Ricciardo, and Alex Albon.

Verstappen was asked at the Red Bull Ring to give his thoughts on Rennie.

"I think so far today’s been really good with Simon, of course I’ve known Simon for a long time on the other side of the garage and working with him also in the simulator. He has a lot of experience, so it’s been actually very good today. He was straight on it and it was nice." Verstappen said, via F1.

The 2025 Formula 1 season is 10 rounds down, and amid the inconsistent performance of the RB21, Max Verstappen is in third place in the Drivers' Championship. He has so far managed 155 points in comparison to the championship leader, Oscar Piastri. The Australian driver has so far secured 198 points.

Taking into consideration that Verstappen is the reigning world champion, it will be fascinating to see whether he will be able to defend his crown.