Red Bull senior advisor Helmut Marko has set out a F1 Summer break deadline for the team to ensure Max Verstappen remains with the team.
While it’s obviously not impossible, I’d be surprised if he left. I could see him replacing Fernando at Aston Martin, or possibly Audi building their team around him. But right now, it seems like 90% of Red Bull is geared towards him, and they’re still competitive. Why leave that?
Personally, I agree. I think it more likely he uses the threat of leaving to bludgeon the team into making some significant changes.
Devil’s advocate for a moment- he has clashed with several of Horner’s decisions fairly publicly, and has disliked the car for 2 seasons now. 2 seasons implies the engineers are struggling to find and fix the true underlying issues. That can be very disheartening. Oh, and Newey left, Max very much respected Newey’s work and seems to trust him implicitly.
TBH, the point you made about Newey is why I tossed out Aston as an option. If they can get the car sorted, it would be a perfect place for him, especially given that the team boss doesn’t really care how good or bad the second driver is.
He isn’t going any place that doesn’t give him good odds at winning championships. That means none of those teams are options for him.
Like I said, I’d be surprised to see him leave. I would add that he’s not going anywhere he’s not going to be the clear #1, which rules out pretty much all the other front runners. Aston has Newey and a lot of money and a CLEAR #2 who isn’t going anywhere soon. It’s yet to be seen how much Audi is going to pour in next year, but they would probably make room for a guy like Max. If he left RB, and it’s very unlikely he would, I think those are the two best options. Possibly with Alpine as a very dark horse (I’d be more surprised to see him go there than I’d be if he left RB! But, Flavio…).