Red Bull engineers made Max Verstappen feel like he was ‘taken for granted’ before he opened Mercedes talks

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Much has been said about Max Verstappen’s future at Red Bull in recent months, with his current situation at the team coming under the spotlight.

Following a record-breaking 2023 season that saw Red Bull win all but one Grand Prix, Verstappen‘s back-to-back wins to start 2024 made it look like the Dutchman was in for an easy fourth world title.

However, the departure of key members from the design team saw the Austrian constructor go backwards in the constructors’ championship, eventually falling to third behind rivals McLaren and Ferrari.

It has also been suggested by ‘mutterings’ in the team that Red Bull feel like the money spent on Verstappen is ‘unnecessary’, further fuelling the idea that he will find himself at a new team for the 2026 season.

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Max Verstappen was frustrated by Red Bull ‘giving him a tough car to drive’

In a mailbag column by RACER, Chris Medland highlighted the effect that the declining performance of the RB20 had on Verstappen’s stance at Red Bull.

Asked whether Red Bull’s challengers are solely developed with the Dutchman in mind, the journalist replied, “Red Bull doesn’t design the car around Max’s style – no team directly does that.

“They all build the quickest possible car they can, and try to make it as drivable as possible, but it’s only as quick as the driver can drive it.

“Verstappen finds ways of extracting performance despite the car’s challenges, but that was one of the reasons he was getting frustrated last year – because Red Bull was giving him a tough car to drive and then he felt his performances were almost being taken for granted.”

Verstappen is well within his rights to feel let down by his engineers. Since the start of 2022, the Dutchman has scored 1,631 of the 2,380 points Red Bull have earned. This means that he has been responsible for nearly 70% of the points scored by the team in those years.

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Max Verstappen’s future at Red Bull for the 2026 F1 season is still up in the air as Mercedes circle

The new regulations that come into effect for the 2026 F1 will see Red Bull developing their own engine for the first time through their Red Bull Powertrains division.

It has been reported that the initial performance benchmark of the RBPT-developed engine has been suboptimal, suggesting Verstappen will want to look elsewhere for a drive next season as he chases a fifth world championship, with Mercedes being the favourite for the Dutchman’s signature.

However, Guenther Steiner has shared his doubts on Mercedes’ new engine, stating that just because they got the new regulations right in 2014, there’s no guarantee that they will do it again in 2026.

Mercedes may also have to fend off Aston Martin if they do, in fact, want to acquire the four-time champion’s talents, with Lawrence Stroll tipped to offer Verstappen ‘whatever he wants’ in order to sign him.