Laurent Mekies is confident that Red Bull will be able to convince Max Verstappen to stay in Formula 1 with something ‘simple’: giving him a fast and competitive car for this championship.
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It is no secret that the four-time champion is quite dissatisfied with the direction the 2026 regulations have taken. Quite critical, he even said that the races are artificial and even compared them to the game Mario Kart. Not only that, he has cast doubt on his continuity on the grid.
But the Red Bull boss believes that the Dutchman’s future is not up for discussion, confident that he will be able to keep him for 2027. “You need to come to Milton Keynes to see the flame burning in every corner, and you will soon understand why I am smiling now, because we are not thinking about the driver market for 2027,” he told F1’s Beyond the Grid podcast.
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“We are thinking about having a fast car, and if we have a fast car, there is no discussion about what Max will do next year, and therefore, we are focused on that. I have full confidence that, as a sport, we have the tools to adjust the regulations so that we return to having flat-out qualifying, while maintaining all the positive aspects we are seeing in the races, from the first events,” he added.
“And I think that, if we do that, I have full confidence that Max will see what we all see, that we will still have the 22 best drivers in the world there, the fastest car on the planet and the most competitive environment, and he is, above all, a competitor,” he concluded.
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