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Former F1 driver Ralf Schumacher has backtracked from his earlier stance to claim that Max Verstappen is now "very open" to staying at Red Bull post Christian Horner's sacking. The German believes Verstappen could now stay put, given the change of leadership at the Austrian side.
Ralf Schumacher was one of the loudest voices in the F1 media claiming that Max Verstappen is definitely going to join Mercedes in 2026. While he claimed that the 4x world champion did not wish to leave, he believed that Verstappen would have been forced to leave due to Red Bull's lack of competitiveness over the last 12 months.
But speaking on the Backstage Boxengasse podcast recently, the 50-year-old has completely backtracked, describing the situation as "very open" now.
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Schumacher has claimed that the mood inside the Red Bull camp is suddenly positive now with Laurent Mekies in charge. He also added that Verstappen may not want to leave if he feels the Austrian team is still moving in the right direction.
"I can imagine that if everything is okay here, he [Verstappen] will ask himself: ‘why should I leave?’. I don’t think that was quite his wish. It has only led to it, because the car no longer functions as well. There were problems and internally the atmosphere was suddenly not so good anymore," said Schumacher.
"From that point of view, I think it is indeed very open again. Such a development can happen very quickly. And this feeling of well-being is very important to the driver," he added.
Schumacher also added that Verstappen enjoys unconditional support at Red Bull as the number one driver at the team. He claimed that this would not be the case at Mercedes, and that the Dutchman would also not like being paired up with rival George Russell.
Christian Horner was a factor in Max Verstappen wanting to leave Red Bull, claims Schumacher
Ralf Schumacher has also claimed that Christian Horner was one of the reasons why Max Verstappen wanted to leave the Red Bull setup originally. But the Briton has now been removed from his role by the company, and has been replaced by Laurent Mekies.
Speaking on the aforementioned podcast, Schumacher was asked if Horner was a factor in Verstappen wanting out. He replied, saying:
"That is of course a factor, but on the other hand, if the success had come, everything would have been a bit easier. I think the situation was indeed very complicated and that a lot of wrong decisions were made."
"Otherwise, Max wouldn’t have been in the situation of saying, 'No, I don’t see my future here at the moment, maybe I should listen to something else,'" he added.
Schumacher now believes Mekies has already created an environment at Red Bull in which Verstappen is happier. But it remains to be seen whether the Frenchman can make such a big impact at his new team following in Christian Horner's footsteps.
