Max Verstappen’s future sparks rumors: “Big adventure at Aston Martin awaits”. Ralf Schumacher claims Max Verstappen could leave Red Bull if upgrades fail by Imola.

The words of the former driver
It only took one misstep — albeit a major one, with underwhelming performance and disastrous pit stops — to immediately trigger the Max Verstappen transfer rumors. What fueled the speculation was a move by the Dutchman’s manager, Raymond Vermeulen, who went to the Red Bull garage at the end of the race to express his dissatisfaction to Helmut Marko, who in turn admitted to being “extremely worried” about the possibility of losing Verstappen, given that the RB21 was outqualified by Pierre Gasly’s Alpine and, during the race, was unable to overtake Esteban Ocon’s Haas.

In 2026, Formula 1 will enter a new technical and regulatory era. In terms of power units, Mercedes is currently leading the way on the “virtual starting grid.” However, the official Mercedes team seems to be fully staffed, based on reports about Toto Wolff’s plans. Wolff has just promoted Andrea Kimi Antonelli to F1 and is expected to finalize at least a two-year contract extension with George Russell.

According to Ralf Schumacher, Mercedes is not Max Verstappen’s potential destination should he leave Red Bull early: “I’m quite sure that if the major updates Red Bull is preparing don’t deliver a significant step forward for the RB21 by the Imola GP, then Max Verstappen will leave the team,” said Schumacher, speaking as a pundit for Sky Sport Deutschland. “Of course, Max is highly sought-after on the market because it’s clear how much of a difference he makes. I think Max Verstappen is headed for a great adventure at Aston Martin. He knows Newey, he has won in F1 with Honda, and the facilities recently inaugurated by Lawrence Stroll are cutting-edge.” – the former Formula 1 driver pointed out.