Steiner: Verstappen will stay at Red Bull because leaving now is too risky

Mercedes boss Toto Wolff has reignited speculation over the Dutch driver's future after confirming he and Max Verstappen are in talks over a potential contract.

Although Wolff assesses the likelihood of Verstappen joining Mercedes in 2026 as low, George Russell and Andrea Kimi Antonelli's post-2025 Mercedes contracts are yet to be finalised.

On top of all this, Red Bull announced on July 9th that team principal and CEO Christian Horner had been sacked. This development has once again brought Verstappen's position at the team into question.

However, according to Steiner, it makes little sense for Verstappen to rush into leaving.

"Max will definitely stay at Red Bull, or at least I think he will definitely stay for 2026," Steiner told Sport.de.

"He will look around and see what happens next year. It's very risky to move to a team and sign a long-term contract right now."

"So I think he'll stay put and see what happens. I'm sure there are clauses in his contract that allow him to leave if things don't work out."

"And we know this: the best team always wants the best driver, and the best driver wants to be in the best team. Max could have that opportunity next year. But making a change now would be a risk."

"Because it wouldn't make sense to leave the team right now. No team would offer just one year, and that wouldn't be a good situation for Max."