14/04/2025 10:00
Max Verstappen will "definitely" leave Red Bull as doubts continue
to grow around the performance of Red Bull, reckons Ralf
Schumacher. In the Bahrain GP, Verstappen was sixth, 34.3s behind
race-winner Oscar Piastri on a dismal night for Red Bull, which
also featured multiple slow pit-stops for the usually razor-sharp
team. The RB21 was at best the fourth-fastest car in Sakhir, as
Verstappen laboured to seventh on the grid, complaining all
throughout the weekend of a lack of grip and trouble with the
brakes as Red Bull's performance slump hit a new-low. The
inability of the team to arrest the slide in performance which
started in the summer of 2024 has been cited as one factor which
could push Verstappen out of the exit door, with car upgrades not
delivering the hoped-for boost. With this in mind, six-time grand
prix winner Schumacher believes the four-time world champion will
"definitely" leave before his contract expires at the end of the
2028 season. "I'm pretty sure that if the upgrade on the car
doesn't take effect by Imola and the new [in-house] engine [for
2026] doesn't run quite as well, Max Verstappen will definitely
leave the team," Schumacher explained during Sky Germany's
broadcast. "You can see the difference he makes, you absolutely
have to get this driver and everyone wants to have him." Verstappen
has been heavily-linked with Mercedes and Aston Martin, where he
could be re-united with Adrian Newey and Honda from 2026. Reports
emerged in January that the team was preparing a "billion-pound"
offer to lure Verstappen to Silverstone, which was quickly quashed
by team. Of the two most likely destinations for Verstappen should
he leave, six-time grand prix winner Schumacher believes it is
Aston who the Dutchman should sign for. "A bigger adventure awaits
Verstappen at Aston Martin," he said. "Together with Adrian Newey,
whom he knows very well, he also knows Honda very well, and [there
is ] also a new factory that has a future."
