Max Verstappen confirms contract talks with Mercedes and McLaren

Max Verstappen confirmed he held formal discussions with Mercedes and McLaren regarding his future in Formula 1. The four-time world champion spoke with Mercedes representatives last year and engaged in conversations with McLaren during the current year. Despite the interest from both teams, Verstappen opted to extend his contract with Red Bull Racing through 2030. He stated that he felt a strong sense of loyalty to the team, describing Red Bull as a second family despite recent performance challenges with the RB22 car. Verstappen noted that he prefers to focus on building the team's competitiveness rather than moving to a different organization, emphasizing that he has no personal requirement to prove his capabilities in an alternative machine. His current agreement includes performance-related clauses, which he chose not to trigger this summer.

• 12:13 PMESPN F1 — Verstappen had 'serious' talks with McLaren, Merc
• 9:30 AMYahoo Sports — Verstappen Confirms Serious Talks with Mercedes and McLaren