Red Bull team principal Christian Horner has dismissed talk of Max Verstappen moving to Mercedes possibly next year, calling it “a lot of noise”, Afrosport reports.
George Russell is out of contract at the end of the year with Mercedes, and both he and team boss Toto Wolff have referenced the possibility of Verstappen becoming available at some point.
The Dutch driver has a release clause in his Red Bull contract which would allow him to leave if certain performance targets are not met.
Horner has however responded to those claims of him leaving, asserting that it is irritating to the reigning four-time world champion.
“It’s a lot of noise. I think Max gets quite annoyed by it and we are very clear with the contract that we have with Max until 2028,” he said after Austrian Grand Prix qualifying.
“Anything is entirely speculative that is being said but we tend not to pay too much attention to it.
“I can imagine that George is frustrated, he hasn’t been given a contract yet. But that’s between him and his team. The situation with Max, we know clearly where we’re at, as does Max.
“Everything is subject to noise and within any contract it remains confidential between the parties.”
Verstappen qualified seventh in Saturday’s qualifying session in what was Red Bull’s home race. He believes he would have had a better shot at pole position had it not been for a yellow flag that forced him to abort his final effort, allowing title rival Lando Norris to take pole in the McLaren.
“FP3 (final practice) wasn’t too bad but somehow in qualifying it just completely disappeared, there wasn’t a single corner where I felt happy with the car,” he said.
“That is of course a big problem with qualifying.
“Hopefully we can at least be competitive with Ferrari or Mercedes [in the race]. I don’t know because with the balance that I had in quali, for sure that is not going to look great for [the race].”
Saturday in Spielberg = 🏁
An interrupted last run for Max means he’ll start P7. A tough end to Yuki’s session, but plenty of opportunity for tomorrow’s Race 💪
Results | NOR, LEC, PIA, HAM, RUS, LAW, Max 👊, BOR, ANT, GAS. Yuki, P18 🫶#F1 || #AustrianGP 🇦🇹 pic.twitter.com/ZbVB1Z7oeG
— Oracle Red Bull Racing (@redbullracing) June 28, 2025
Verstappen is third overall in the drivers’ championship, 43 points behind leader and McLaren driver Oscar Piastri and 21 points behind Norris.
He is a four-time champion in Austria and also winner of an additional race at the same venue called the Styrian Grand Prix in 2021.
