Max Verstappen to Mercedes rumors not a surprise, claims former Red Bull man

Former Red Bull driver Pierre Gasly feels that the rumors linking Max Verstappen with Mercedes do not come as a surprise. The Dutch driver has been a part of the Austrian outfit since the start of his F1 career.

He made his debut with Red Bull's sister team, Toro Rosso, in 2015. He was swiftly promoted to the senior team in mid-2016, and his performance levels meant that he became a permanent fixture at the front of the grid.

The Dutch driver won his first title with Red Bull in 2021 and signed a long-term contract with the team soon after. The contract would expire in 2028, but there are exit clauses within that could expedite his exit from the team should the performance not turn out to be a match.

With Red Bull facing a steady decline since mid-2024, there have been conversations about where Max Verstappen could end up. One of the teams thought to be the next frontrunner in F1 is Mercedes.

There have been conversations between Mercedes boss Toto Wolff and Max Verstappen, as has been publicly shared. While that is the case, Red Bull in the meantime has fired longtime team boss Christian Horner as well.

Amongst all of this, rumors of a Max Verstappen-Mercedes alliance continue to gain traction. When asked about his thoughts on Verstappen potentially talking to the German driver, Pierre Gasly was not surprised, as he told media, including Sportskeeda:

"Surprised? Not really. Max, arguably, is the best driver on the grid. Any driver wants the best car available and that’s not what he gets at the minute. I think it’s normal that he’d be looking at his options and looking at what’s possible. At the end of the day, he’s a four-time world champion. It’s down to him to do whatever he wants to do. I guess we’ll find out pretty soon.”

Pierre Gasly on the struggle of the second driver alongside Max Verstappen at Red Bull

Pierre Gasly was also questioned about his view on how much of a struggle it is being Max Verstappen's teammate at Red Bull, to which he felt that the situation with each individual driver was somewhat different from the other. He said:

“To be fair, I think we all get put in the same basket when it comes to the second car. But to me, things were very different to me than they were for Alex or they were for Perez. I’m not going to elaborate too much on that. Clearly, something is not clicking for Yuki. I just hope for him as a friend that somehow it comes together because the level there is on the grid."

Pierre Gasly was also teamed up with Max Verstappen in 2019 at Red Bull, but the driver had a horrible run with the squad, and ended up getting released from the team mid-season.