Foreign Media: Three-time Champion Verstappen’s Father Has Reached a Verbal Agreement with Mercedes CEO Wolff

According to foreign media PlanetF1, Max Verstappen’s father, a Red Bull driver, has reached a “handshake agreement” with Toto Wolff, CEO of Mercedes-Benz, to bring the Red Bull driver to Mercedes for the F1 2026 season.

Mercedes recently finalized its driver lineup for next season, confirming that Jimmie Antonelli will replace seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton as George Russell’s teammate in F1 2025.

Although the Dutchman is under contract with Red Bull until the end of the F1 2028 season, given the increasing tension between his father Jos and Red Bull team principal Christian Horner, and the decline in performance of the Red Bull RB20 car as the F1 2024 season progresses, Verstappen’s future has been a topic of interest.

Despite winning four out of the first five races this season, Verstappen has not won since the Spanish Grand Prix this year—his longest winless streak since the 2020 season. This poor performance has reduced Verstappen’s lead over McLaren driver Lando Norris to 59 points ahead of this weekend’s Singapore Grand Prix.

Meanwhile, Red Bull has lost its lead in the constructors’ championship for the first time since May 2022, with McLaren leading Red Bull by 20 points with seven races remaining.

Furthermore, many key figures have left Red Bull, such as design guru Adrian Newey moving to Aston Martin, and sporting director Jonathan Wheatley set to become the head of the Audi F1 team next year.