Jos Verstappen hits out at Zak Brown for making claims of Max Verstappen joining Mercedes

Jos Verstappen lashed out at Zak Brown for boldly claiming that Max Verstappen would leave Red Bull to join Mercedes in 2026.

Jos Verstappen hits out at Zak Brown for making claims of Max Verstappen joining Mercedes

Christian Horner and Zak Brown (via IMAGO), Max Verstappen (via Red Bull)

Max Verstappen has lost out on multiple winning opportunities over the last season due to Red Bull’s incessant performance struggles. The 2025 season might be no different as Verstappen suffered from a lack of pace at the season opener in Australia. Amidst the struggles, McLaren Racing’s CEO Zak Brown made a bold claim that the Dutchman was waging his options to join Mercedes in the coming years. Upon this, Jos Verstappen has taken offense and hit back at Brown for making such untoward predictions about the 27-year-old.

Max Verstappen‘s future with Red Bull has remained highly debated ever since the rumors of Helmut Marko leaving the team came up. The Dutchman is alleged to have an exit clause in his contract that might see him exit the team surprisingly. Despite some extremely lucrative offers, Verstappen has continued to remain loyal to Milton Keynes and is likely to continue with the team.

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Still, Zak Brown boldly claimed that by the end of the 2025 season, Verstappen would exit Red Bull and potentially join Mercedes. While Toto Wolff‘s interest in the Dutchman has likely not died down yet, this might still not be possible. The 27-year-old had clearly noted that even $250 Million wouldn’t make him consider jumping ship to Brackley. Jos Verstappen also negated Brown’s claim in a post on social media, in a stern manner.

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Verstappen Sr. blatantly asserted that Brown was trying to ‘steer sh*t’ in the paddock without any actual basis. Although the 53-year-old didn’t add more to his claims, this might mean that the Dutchman might not quit the team. However, even the father had previously claimed that the 27-year-old would exit the team if they were unable to produce a championship-winning car. Hence, time will tell about where Verstappen Jr lands in the coming season as Milton Keynes is unlikely to compete for the championship this year.

Red Bull set to ‘go to extremes’ to help Max Verstappen win the championship

Red Bull has continued to implement multiple major upgrades in the challenger in order to gain any advantage possible. The team reportedly brought in around 15 updates in Australia after a mediocre outing in the pre-season test. Regardless, Verstappen couldn’t snatch the lead from race-winner Lando Norris despite coming extremely close towards the end. As a result, Team Principal Christian Horner reveals that the team is ready to go to the extremes.

Lando Norris and Max Verstappen (via Red Bull content pool)
Lando Norris and Max Verstappen (via Red Bull content pool)

Horner pointed out that Red Bull introduced some big setup changes during the testing in Bahrain. The Briton insisted that the team purposely wanted to go to the extremes to get a better understanding of the challenger. Milton Keynes gained ‘toolbox’ knowledge from the different setups that were used during the pre-season testing.

We did some big set-up changes in Bahrain. We purposely wanted to go to extremes to understand the set-up parameters so that you’ve got your toolbox knowledge when you go racing.

Christian Horner told RacingNews365.com

Christian Horner labels RB21 as ‘calmer’ than its predecessor RB20

Red Bull’s RB20 challenger in the 2024 season was famously known to have massive balance issues, especially while heading into corners. While the RB21 seems to be better than its predecessor, there are still certain characteristics of the previous chassis present. Regardless, Christian Horner raised confidence in Max Verstappen’s chances to win following the improvement in performance this time around.

Christian Horner and Max Verstappen
Christian Horner and Max Verstappen (via F1)

Horner pointed out that the characteristics of the RB21 chassis seemed to be much calmer than the previous RB20. The Briton believed that this provided the team with a great platform to develop upon throughout the season. Moreover, the 51-year-old insisted that the nasty snaps from the RB20 did not seem to carry over into the current challenger, which was further a positive point.

I think the characteristics of this car are much calmer than the RB20, so as a platform to develop through the season. There are not the nasty snaps there were on RB20.

Christian Horner explained

Red Bull still has to find massive grounds for improvement on the current chassis to maximize Verstappen’s championship chances. The Dutchman has continued to keep up with performances despite driving a mediocre chassis. The rivals seem to have found great improvement while Milton Keynes seems to be lacking. Hence, time will tell about how the 27-year-old competes for the drivers’ title against the rivals this season.