Verstappen sits sixth in the drivers’ standings going into the summer break, around 110 points behind leader Kimi Antonelli. That result triggered the performance clause in his Red Bull contract, and he has until October to tell the team whether he intends to leave.
One part of that decision he has already answered in public. Asked at the Canadian Grand Prix in May whether the FIA’s then-proposed 60/40 combustion-to-electric split for 2027 was helping him stay in the sport, he told The Race:
“Yeah, definitely. I just want a good product in Formula 1 and that will for sure improve the product.”
He then framed his own future in the same technical terms.
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“I always wanted to continue anyway but I always wanted to see change and I think the change that’s coming now is definitely very, very positive.”
From May target to June ratification
Those comments have since been overtaken by regulation. The FIA World Motor Sport Council ratified the revised power unit rules at its Macau meeting on 23 June, locking in a 58/42 combustion-to-electric split for 2027 before moving to the full 60/40 in 2028.
The tweak addresses the driver complaints about the current 50/50 formula that Verstappen had aired repeatedly, calling elements of it “anti-driving, anti-racing” and describing his RB22 on team radio in Hungarian qualifying as “completely broken aerodynamically”.
Sixth in the standings, still no wins in 2026
Three months on, the technical box the Dutchman ticked in Montreal looks like the easiest part of the equation. Red Bull have not fixed his RB22, he is on course for his first winless season with the team, and he has spun in qualifying twice this year, in Miami and again in Hungary, as paddock speculation openly links him to McLaren.
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Red Bull are reported to have offered him a fresh deal running to the end of 2029 that would strip the performance clause out entirely, and to have tabled a multi-million-euro buyout he turned down.
Zandvoort next, October decision still to come
The Dutch Grand Prix runs at Zandvoort from Friday to Sunday, 21-23 August, with the race scheduled for 3pm local time on the Sunday. It is a sprint weekend for the first time and, under the current contract, the last Dutch GP scheduled at the circuit.
The regulation change Verstappen asked for is done. Whether that alone is enough to keep him at Red Bull, or whether the October deadline runs down with him leaving for a rival, is what his home crowd will be listening for.
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