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F1 bombshell: Verstappen “will leave” Red Bull this year
SEN • March 20th, 2025 3:49 pm
McLaren team boss Zak Brown has dropped an F1 trade bombshell suggesting that Red Bull will lose four-time world champion Max Verstappen at the end of the 2025 season.
With F1 contracts meaning very little when it comes to poaching the big names and sacking those that underperform, Brown predicts that the Dutchman will be driving a Mercedes this time next year.
Both Mercedes drivers George Russell and rookie Kimi Antonelli are off contract later this year and with F1 “silly season” in driver movement starting to ramp up already, Brown has not held back on having a crack at his team’s main rivals.
“Oh I think he’ll leave at the end of this year. Most likely to Merc (Mercedes),” Brown told the UK Telegraph.
“There’s been talk of Aston Martin, too, with Adrian Newey joining. But as great as Adrian is – and he’s the greatest ever – you need a whole team around you.
“If I was betting, I’d bet on Merc.”
Red Bull have dominated the sport for the last four season but with new regulations coming into play in 2026, Brown predicts a changing of the guard.
“In the last 10 years, they’ve won the championship seven or eight times. Last year they won five (sic four) races. They have stability. We know Toto likes him. And I think we all feel HPP (Mercedes High Performance Powertrains) is best equipped on the power unit side heading into the new engine regulations next year.”
While Brown appears adamant of the trade, Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff poured water on any speculation during the Australian Grand Prix last week.
"We need to concentrate on our driver line-up, we need to do the best that we can,” he said.
"I don't flirt outside if I'm in a good relationship, and that is true for this year, too. At the moment that (Verstappen) is not on any, let's say, radar. I don't like to shift my concentration away from these guys (Russell and Antonelli).
Verstappen finished second in the opening race of the season behind McLaren’s Lando Norris. Racing continues in China this weekend.
