Max Verstappen 'lonely' at Red Bull as Mercedes move encouraged

One-time F1 champion Jenson Button has spoken out on Max Verstappen's situation at Red Bull, as rumours continue to swirl about his future.

Verstappen has been linked with just about every team who can put a four-wheeled car on the track at some point in the last year, with McLaren being the current flavour of the week with the rumourmongers – and Mercedes continuing to lurk in the conversation.

The Dutch great's relationship with his team is kept mostly behind closed doors, but Silverstone saw some of the clearest expressions of frustration during his time with Red Bull, admitting he is 'really fed up' with what he called 'super dangerous' read wing failures on his car.

Those failures saw him exit Austrian Grand Prix qualifying early and robbed him of a podium finish at the British Grand Prix in back to back weekends.

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Button: I think Verstappen will be looking elsewhere

Former McLaren star Button has again weighed in on the situation, pointing out that many of the key figures throughout Verstappen's time with the team – team principal Christian Horner, design genius Adrian Newey, and advisor Helmut Marko, to name but three – have all departed relatively recently, with his trusted race engineer Gianpiero Lambiasi also on his way out the door to McLaren.

Speaking on Sky Sports' F1 Show this week after Silverstone, Button said: “He puts a happy face on a lot of the time, but I think he's very frustrated with the situation.

“A lot of people that he's worked with for many years and won championships with have left and gone elsewhere and it must be very strange. It must feel kind of a bit lonely within that team for him.

“Everyone's brand new around him. So I think he'll be looking elsewhere. Yeah, I really do for next year. And the team that if I was his management would want to put him in is Mercedes obviously alongside Kimi or alongside George, whichever one they choose to move on.”

Of course, that remains unlikely - Russell recently signed a new contract and has insisted that he's fully locked down for 2027, while Mercedes are unlikely to jettison their championship-leading teenage star and future of their team, even for Verstappen.

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