What Red Bull sources have said about Max Verstappen’s Sardinia visit that coincided with Toto Wolff trip

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A lot of fuss was made about Max Verstappen and Toto Wolff both deciding to go on holiday in Sardinia ahead of Formula 1’s summer break.

The last few weeks in the Formula 1 driver market have been fairly turbulent, with suggestions that Verstappen could make a move to Mercedes.

Wolff would need to convince the four-time champion that his operation has a higher ceiling than Red Bull’s beyond 2026.

And going on holiday at the same time as him, at the same place, has only fueled suspicions that they might already be in serious talks. After the upcoming Belgian Grand Prix, there’s another four-week break with plenty of time for things to develop away from the track.

Verstappen only wants one thing for 2026 and is eager for his current team to return to the top, after a period of difficulty and poor car development recently.

Even Red Bull engineers feel Verstappen was ‘taken for granted’ before there was any mention of a move to the Silver Arrows. He’s a massive part of their team.

READ MORE: Toto Wolff may now offer Max Verstappen the chance to take part in dream race outside F1 if he joins Mercedes

Red Bull sources say Max Verstappen’s Sardinia trip was ‘planned’ amid Toto Wolff links

One F1 team is willing to pay Verstappen ‘whatever he wants’ to make a move, which shows just how much his talents are appreciated.

Red Bull won’t ‘turn things around’ according to Ralf Schumacher, who believes that the British Grand Prix confirmed their trajectory.

With the loss of long-serving boss Christian Horner, their new management structure is tasked with leading them back to the top ahead of a massive rule change. Keeping Verstappen is another big task.

However, ESPN’s Nate Saunders has shared that sources close to Verstappen have revealed that his recent holiday to Sardinia was planned for a long time, and had little to do with meeting Mercedes boss Wolff.

“Speaking to people at Red Bull and speaking to certainly some people I know who are very close on the Verstappen side,” he said. “They said this trip was planned for a long, long time.

“And it’s not that unusual that there’s certain areas of the world where these guys seem to all end up. If you look at where they all live and where they ended up, it’s not the furthest stretch to go.”

READ MORE: Laurent Mekies must use the Christian Horner tactic that Martin Brundle hated to keep Max Verstappen at Red Bull

Why the 2025 Formula 1 season has been so bad for Max Verstappen

At the start of the season, most people expected Red Bull to be able to compete with McLaren for the drivers’ championship.

Instead, as has been the case for a while, they have been outdeveloped, outraced and outperformed in just about every single way.

Not having a capable driver in the second car isn’t helping them, but part of the reason why Yuki Tsunoda can’t extract any performance is due to the RB21 not being a friendly race car.

It has been designed with one man in mind, and now he can’t win with it, they’re at a dead end, all but spelling the end of any title hopes for 2025.