Bernie Ecclestone has already made it know that he believes Lewis Hamilton should retire from Formula 1.

However, if four-time World Champion Max Verstappen decided to swap Red Bull for Ferrari and succeed Hamilton, then Ecclestone – the former F1 supremo – warns Verstappen that is his career finished.

Max Verstappen to Ferrari: A career-wrecking union?

Ferrari opted against renewing the contract of Carlos Sainz in order to strike a deal with seven-time World Champion Lewis Hamilton. But, that big-money move for team and driver is yet to pay off.

Hamilton is still searching for his first podium as a Ferrari driver. Team-mate Charles Leclerc has scored five such results in F1 2025 – and claimed a surprise pole position in Hungary – on his way to establishing a gap of 42 points over Hamilton in the standings.

Hamilton had already established himself as Formula 1’s most successful driver when he decided to swap Mercedes for Ferrari. It was designed to provide a fresh spark in his career which had somewhat stagnated, but the desired effect is yet to be realised.

Ecclestone believes Hamilton needs to retire from Formula 1, but if he did, Verstappen should not get any ideas about heading for Maranello, Ecclestone warns.

Verstappen has stated his continued committed to Red Bull for F1 2026, but the pressure is on. Sweeping changes to the chassis and engine regulations are on the way, with Red Bull to become an engine manufacturer in their own right for the first time – as of F1 2026 – working in partnership with Ford.

Should Red Bull underwhelm, then Verstappen activating the exit clause in his contract may become a far greater threat to the team than it was this year. Use it to join Ferrari though, and Ecclestone made it clear what he believes the repercussions would be for Verstappen.

“If he goes to Ferrari, it would be the end of his career,” Ecclestone said of Verstappen when speaking with Sport.de.

“Let’s hope that doesn’t happen.”

Instead, Ecclestone name-dropped “Isack Hadjar” as a Ferrari candidate should Hamilton leave. Hadjar could yet end up at Red Bull as Verstappen’s F1 2026 team-mate, as he continues to impressively navigate his rookie season.

But, Ecclestone would be leaning towards another impressive F1 2025 rookie as the ideal Hamilton replacement.

“You have to choose an up-and-coming driver,” said Ecclestone.

“I would take the Brazilian Bortoleto, who I think will be very good, or Isack Hadjar.

“Bortoleto gets the job done. Put him in the right car and you’ll see.”

How F1 2026 is shaping up

👉 F1 2026 driver line-up: Who is already confirmed for the 2026 grid?

👉 F1 2026: Confirmed teams and power unit suppliers for F1’s huge regulation changes

Should Red Bull meet the target set by Verstappen for F1 2026, the team would likely not need to stress over the thought of losing their star driver.

“I’m very focused on ’26 with the team, to look ahead and make sure that we nail the regulations, and that we are competitive from the start,” Verstappen declared to the Formula 1 website.

“The team has gone from of course winning championships before I arrived, to when I arrived, a bit through a rebuilding phase, and then we really hit the peak again of winning championships.

“Now I feel like [it’s] slight rebuilding. We’re still of course a very strong team, but I do think that to make again a step up, there’s slight rebuilding or restructuring maybe, and understanding a little bit more what’s going on, and that of course takes a little bit of time, but hopefully not too much time.

“I think that’s also a bit the mentality of the team [to fight back from a dip], it’s always been like that, so I’m not too worried about that.”

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