Max Verstappen will leave Red Bull as part of exodus

Max Verstappen is no longer the world champion but he may take a crumb of comfort knowing that by in large in the Formula 1 world he is still considered the best driver around.

But that's not to say he doesn't care about titles. Of course he does (even if he doesn't always show it). Verstappen is a winner and he wants that officially as much as anyone. Ask Fernando Alonso what he thinks of having only two world championships despite being one of the sport's best ever drivers.

The point is, Verstappen hasn't lost the world championship because Lando Norris is a superior driver, he has lost it because he doesn't have a car good enough to challenge McLaren. The best drivers don't stick around in poor cars if they have options to move elsewhere.

Max Verstappen's talent means he could probably walk into any F1 team on his terms. That's bad news for Red Bull because the trajectory and omens up to now don't bode well for 2026 and beyond.

Are Red Bull still good enough for Verstappen?

Red Bull have not been heading in the right direction. From about early 2024 their status as the team that would win almost every single race with Verstappen has disintegrated. Verstappen has just about kept the team within realistic expectations of challenging for wins each weekend, but it's only papering over the cracks.

Look at the other team garage for evidence of that. Perez went from finishing runner-up in 2023, to struggling to even get into the top 10 by the end of 2024 before he was given his marching orders. Since then, Liam Lawson and Yuki Tsunoda have both been badly burned by their Red Bull experience. If it wasn't for Verstappen's heroics, Red Bull would easily be fourth and behind Ferrari in the championship.

The issue with Red Bull is the future is unclear at best. There's been an exodus of talent from the team in very recent years. Christian Horner has left as team principal, Adrian Newey as car designer, key engineer Rob Marshall to McLaren, sporting director Jonathan Wheatley and very recently Helmut Marko as a team advisor.

That's a lot of key people disappearing in a very short space of time. Even if you get the right heads in to replace them, it's not an overnight job to gel them all into a cohesive unit comparable to other slick operations in the pit-lane.

Who is making Red Bull's engines in 2026?

And that's just the personnel. Long time engine supplier Honda, who helped Verstappen win all four championships, have gone down the road to Aston Martin, and what does that leave Red Bull... their own unproven power units with oversight from Ford.

Big name, Ford, but their recent F1 record is awful. They may have given us the magnificent DFV engine via Cosworth but that was in the 1960s and not even Fernando Alonso was around back then. Ford have the third most wins in F1 history behind Mercedes and Ferrari with 176, but 150 of them were before 1983 and only one of them have come in this century.

As revolutionary as Ford were back then, they haven't followed it up. The last time an F1 driver won a race driving a Ford powered car was Giancarlo Fisichella for Jordan in Brazil 22 years ago. The last driver to win a world championship in a Ford powered car was Michael Schumacher for Benetton in 1994.

Ford's last real proper go with F1 was with Jaguar between 2000 and 2004 after buying out the Stewart team. Despite big bucks it proved far worse than Jackie Stewart's slick outfit. It was bureaucracy heavy, and chief designer at the time Gary Anderson has often complained how trying to change things on the cars to make them quicker took ages in communications with Ford.

Ford pulled the plug and despite various engine deals with the likes of Williams have not played a significant role since. So to expect them to come and help Red Bull PowerTrains become the best engine under the new regs from day one in 2026 is quite some ask, especially for a team who have been heading in the wrong direction.

Red Bull's worst season for five years

*Denotes 10 points for a win season

Where will Max Verstappen drive in 2027?

So where does that leave Verstappen? Well, at huge risk of an underpowered and transitional team as he attempts to win back his world championship in 2026. Should Mercedes, McLaren or (just imagine) Ferrari get their act together next year and lead from the front, why wouldn't Verstappen have his head turned?

Red Bull and Ford could be the start of a brilliant partnership, and I, for their sake, hope it does. But a team trying to find its feet again over the course of a year or two at least is not the place for the best driver in the sport to be.

Unless Red Bull and Ford have a sensational winter that puts Red Bull back in the mix for both titles again, Verstappen won't hang around for long and there will be plenty of teams throwing contracts at him for 2027 and beyond.

READ MORE: Red Bull 'decide' on Sebastian Vettel signing after Helmut Marko exit

Related