Red Bull are questioning Max Verstappen’s gratitude after paying him ‘hundreds of millions’

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Red Bull’s relationship with Max Verstappen is becoming ‘very toxic’, according to Dutch F1 journalist Jacky Martens.

Verstappen was heavily critical of Red Bull during a fraught British Grand Prix weekend. He questioned why they wouldn’t let him start from the pit lane with a different set-up after qualifying down in seventh.

Then, after a rear-wing issue saw him spin out for the second weekend in a row, he said he had been put in a ‘dangerous’ situation.

What will Max Verstappen’s disastrous British Grand Prix mean for his relationship with Red Bull?

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This has only heightened the lingering uncertainty around Verstappen’s future at the team. Guaranteed to be outside the top two in the standings after the Hungarian GP, he can soon activate the exit clause that’s known to be in his contract.

Red Bull feel they deserve Max Verstappen’s ‘commitment’

Speaking on the Paddock Access podcast, Martens said that Red Bull sacked Christian Horner a year ago to restore ‘peace’ to the team, but the atmosphere right now is far from harmonious.

Red Bull are pushing Verstappen to publicly commit to the team for 2027, which they feel is the least they deserve after 11 seasons.

However, Verstappen is refusing to do so because he wants to keep his options open, even if it’s difficult to see an obvious alternative on the grid at this stage.

“What I see is a very toxic situation,” said Martens. “Red Bull wanted commitment from Max, they want to hire good people, it helps when Max says, ‘Yes, I’m going to stay at the team for next year.’

“Red Bull would love to keep the best driver on the grid, but so far Max didn’t give his commitment. When stuff like this keeps happening, I’m not expecting any commitment any time soon.

“A year ago, they sacked Christian Horner because they wanted peace in the team. It was toxic back then. There was a lot going on, internal power struggles between the Austrian side and Christian Horner. Still, there’s no peace in the team.

“Red Bull is fed up with the fact that Max is not giving his commitment. They’re paying him an awful lot of money.

“For a salary that comes to, around 100 million a year, he doesn’t have to do a lot of marketing, he has a lot of freedom in the team.

“Those are all reasons for Red Bull [to ask], ‘Why is he not giving us any commitment? He owes a little bit of commitment, everything we did for him in the past, we paid him hundreds of millions in his career.

“Obviously, Max gave them a lot back, but I understand where they’re coming from as well.”

After Sunday’s race, Laurent Mekies was seen meeting with Jos Verstappen and the driver’s manager.

“That got very heated,” Martens said of the conversation. “It’s understandable, especially when something like this happened for the second week in a row. Max could have hurt himself, and then what can you do?”