Max Verstappen has shrugged off speculation about a potential Red Bull departure, calmly dismissing concerns raised by team advisor Helmut Marko.
Marko recently told Sky Germany he had “great concern” Verstappen might jump ship if Red Bull fails to raise its game – a worry sparked by the reigning champion’s underwhelming sixth-place finish in Bahrain, where McLaren’s Oscar Piastri stole the spotlight.
But Verstappen isn’t biting.
“I’m just focusing on driving and don’t think about any other scenarios,” he said Thursday, brushing aside the noise as Red Bull works to bounce back.
“I just keep working, keep trying to improve the car.
“Naturally, Bahrain wasn’t a great weekend for us.
“I think we were all pretty disappointed with that.
“We just keep on trying to improve the car, come up with new ideas to try on the car.
“That’s how I go about my weeks – trying to improve the situation.”
The Dutchman’s name has previously been linked with the likes of Mercedes, Ferrari and Aston Martin, especially now that Red Bull’s former legendary designer Adrian Newey has joined Fernando Alonso’s ambitious team.
But Verstappen wasn’t rising to the bait.
“A lot of people are talking about it – except me,” he said. “Like I said before, I just want to focus on my car, work with the people in the team. That’s the only thing that I’m thinking about in Formula One at the moment.
“I am happy. I am not very happy with my car. But we all want to be better – there is no secret in that. We all want to improve.
“I’m very relaxed.”
Verstappen and Red Bull are hoping for a turnaround at Jeddah’s high-speed street circuit, where he won in 2022 and again last year.
“We’re still trying things with the car,” he said.
‘Long road’
“Are there things that we can improve? We’re constantly trying to improve the car.
“And that’s what we’ll try to do again this weekend.
“How much we can fix it here, I don’t know.”
Alonso, appearing alongside Verstappen at the press conference, said the rumors linking the F1 star with Aston Martin were “very good for the team.”
“This says a lot about the project that we at Aston have and the future that this team has,” Alonso said.
“Would I welcome Max as a teammate? Yes – but it’s unlikely to happen. Very unlikely.”
Verstappen and Red Bull will be counting on upcoming upgrades to their 2025 car to close the gap on McLaren, which has won three of the first four races to open a healthy lead in the early team standings.
Verstappen’s lone bright spot so far in 2025 came in Japan, where he delivered a superb qualifying performance to take pole and win at Suzuka.
“It was enough to be competitive there. It is a very narrow window.
“I just go race by race. I think it will be better than Bahrain. The rest is out of my hands.
“At the moment, we are not the quickest, so it is tough to fight for a championship – but it is a long road.
“Last year it all looked great, and we know how the season ended up,” he added, referring to Red Bull’s midseason slump before rallying to clinch his fourth title.