Max Verstappen went into Formula 1’s summer break sixth in the drivers’ championship, 110 points behind Kimi Antonelli. That result quietly tripped the performance clause in his Red Bull contract, and from now until October he can trigger a move for 2027.
The clause was written for exactly this scenario. It activates if Verstappen finishes outside the top two in the standings at the mid-season break. He entered F1’s shutdown on 109 points to Antonelli’s 219, with Lewis Hamilton, George Russell, Charles Leclerc and Lando Norris all ahead of him. It is the first time since his rookie season that he has failed to win a grand prix in the first 11 races of a year.
His manager, Raymond Vermeulen, has publicly played the option down. Speaking to Austrian outlet OE24 in July, he told the outlet Verstappen still wants to see out his current deal, which runs to the end of 2028.
“There’s a lot being written about it. But the truth is, Max wants to finish his time with Red Bull. He has a contract until 2028 and would like to fulfil it,” Vermeulen said.
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“The fact that this clause exists doesn’t mean we’ll activate it. We could have activated it in recent years as well, and we haven’t.”
The people who built the era have left
The context around Verstappen has shifted more than the contract has. Red Bull started 2026 with a new team principal, Laurent Mekies, after Christian Horner was pushed out mid-season last year. Design chief Adrian Newey left for Aston Martin. Motorsport advisor Helmut Marko, chief designer Rob Marshall and sporting director Jonathan Wheatley have all gone, and race engineer Gianpiero Lambiase is due at McLaren by 2028.
Mekies has not tried to sugar-coat the size of the rebuild. Red Bull is running an in-house power unit with Ford for the first time this season, and he told Sky Sports before the year started that the team expected to be trailing its rivals at the opening rounds.
The championship picture confirms the gap has not closed. Antonelli leads Hamilton by 50 points at the break, with Russell third, Leclerc fourth and Norris fifth. Verstappen sits behind all of them, 110 points off the leader in a season Red Bull had built around him.
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The market is not as open as it looks
The teams that would sign Verstappen tomorrow may not be able to. Mercedes have already committed long-term to Antonelli and Russell. McLaren have Norris and Piastri under contract, and team principal Zak Brown has repeatedly said neither is available. Ferrari extended Charles Leclerc’s contract earlier this year and have Hamilton alongside him.
That leaves Verstappen with a live clause, a market that is technically open but practically narrow, and a decision to reach before October runs out. Whatever he chooses, the summer of 2026 will be remembered as the moment the most dominant driver of his generation had the paperwork on his side to walk out on the team that gave him four world titles.
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