Max Verstappen has been linked to four rival F1 teams, including one surprise suggestion, as speculation over his Red Bull future continues to intensify.<\/p>\n
Former F1 driver-turned-pundit Ralf Schumacher believes the Dutchman will consider almost half the available options in the championship if he does decide to leave the Milton Keynes-based team for pastures new.<\/p>\n
The 27-year-old appears to be increasingly frustrated with Red Bull’s slow decline, something that could be accelerated by the dawn of a new era in F1 with the 2026 regulations overhaul.<\/p>\n
There does, however, remain the possibility the six-time constructors’ champions ace those new set of rules, which could delay Verstappen, who is contracted to Red Bull until the end of 2028, in making a definitive decision.<\/p>\n
Although, if he does opt for the exit door, he will not be short of suitors for his signature, as highlighted by Schumacher.<\/p>\n
“There will be room for Verstappen everywhere,” the six-time grand prix winner said on Sky Sports Germany’s F1 podcast Backstage Boxengasse. “Once again this year he has shown what a difference he can make as a driver.”<\/p>\n
The 49-year-old reiterated the existing rumours linking Verstappen to Mercedes and Aston Martin, but highlighted two further potential players in the sweepstakes for the four-time F1 drivers’ champion.<\/p>\n
“I think people at Mercedes will want to free up space, but I also think McLaren will consider it,” Schumacher added, leaning on fact the Woking squad enquired about Verstappen last year, before locking Oscar Piastri down to a long-term deal to match Lando Norris’. “I think Zak Brown, like everyone else, is interested in Max.”<\/p>\n
However, the former Jordan, Williams and Toyota driver was not finished, throwing an outside bet into the mix.<\/p>\n
“The team we keep forgetting about, but does play a role in the whole thing… Alpine,” he said. “Flavio Briatore has taken Mercedes engines for his team next year, and in the meantime, look at Pierre Gasly [in Bahrain] last weekend.”<\/p>\n
The Frenchman qualified fifth at the Bahrain International Circuit, before being promoted to fourth amid Mercedes’ grid penalties.<\/p>\n
He put together a strong display during the race, crossing the line in seventh after being pipped by Verstappen on the last lap.<\/p>\n
“That car can’t be that bad,” Schumacher mused. “Add to that an extra 30hp [horse power] from the Mercedes engine. I don’t want to discount that team either. So in my eyes, there are four teams that could be interesting for Verstappen.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Max Verstappen has been linked to four rival F1 teams, including one surprise suggestion, as speculation over his…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":24886,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4103],"tags":[859,4199,1076,1074,1077,1075,997,707,4200,998,1073,1072,1071,79,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-24885","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-f1","8":"tag-daniel-ricciardo","9":"tag-f1","10":"tag-f1-calendar","11":"tag-f1-live","12":"tag-f1-results","13":"tag-f1-standings","14":"tag-ferrari","15":"tag-formula-1","16":"tag-formula1","17":"tag-lewis-hamilton","18":"tag-max-verstappen","19":"tag-motorsport","20":"tag-racing","21":"tag-sports","22":"tag-uk","23":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114347952425861527","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24885","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=24885"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24885\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/24886"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=24885"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=24885"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=24885"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}