Max Verstappen explained this week why a Ferrari switch is not on his agenda. Finishing fifth or sixth, he told reporters, would make the whole exercise pointless.

“I only want to win. I am not a nostalgic type. Do I have a lot of respect for the [Ferrari] brand? Absolutely,” he said in an interview with Sky Sports.

“But if that means you then commit yourself, and you are driving P5 or P6, what’s the point?”

The line fits his own 2026 almost exactly. After 16 of 23 rounds, Verstappen sits sixth in the drivers’ championship on 188 points, level with Lando Norris and behind both Ferrari drivers he just dismissed as options. Lewis Hamilton is third on 214 points, with Charles Leclerc fourth on 191. Andrea Kimi Antonelli of Mercedes leads on 320.

Read also: Jake Paul lists more than a dozen fights he wants after the Joshua KO

Four years at Red Bull, locked in

Verstappen signed a four-year extension through the end of 2030, adding two seasons to a deal that had been due to run until 2028 and ending months of speculation that had drawn in McLaren and Mercedes.

He sees the rebuild under new team principal Laurent Mekies, who was promoted in July 2025 after Christian Horner’s departure, as the project he wants to see through.

“I am very performance-driven, and I have won a lot with this team already,” he said. “It is a second family at Red Bull, and the challenge of rebuilding is what’s driving me.”

“I have extended for a few more years, and then I will look again.”

Read also: ‘Haaland’s the first one’: Liverpool legend makes huge transfer demand

Asked about the earlier approaches from rival teams, Verstappen said he had been closer to walking away from Formula 1 altogether than switching garages.

Life after Horner, in his own words

The 29-year-old said the mood inside the team had settled since the leadership change.

“It is not as spicy, but I quite like how things are going with everyone’s behaviour,” he said. “It is less stressful.”

Marina Bay’s first sprint

Ferrari arrive in Singapore 107 points clear of Red Bull in the constructors’ championship, with seven rounds left. The Marina Bay Street Circuit hosts its first-ever sprint weekend from 9 to 11 October 2026. Sprint qualifying is at 8:30pm local time on Friday, the sprint race at 5pm local time on Saturday, and the grand prix at 8pm local time on Sunday 11 October.

Read also: Can Man United break their Champions League curse with Carrick?

Read also: Kyle Walker breaks silence on Man City guilty verdict with defiant message