F1 driver market: Red Bull getting calls from ‘good drivers’ says Laurent Mekies but optimistic on Max Verstappen stay | F1 News

Red Bull team principal Laurent Mekies has suggested they are getting calls from “good drivers” about potential future seats at the team but believes they will make the further pace improvements required to ensure Max Verstappen stays.

As Formula 1 prepares for its final race before the summer break in Hungary this weekend, Verstappen’s Red Bull future beyond this season remains uncertain.

His contract runs to the end of the 2028 season but contains performance clauses that would allow him to leave at the end of this year. He is thought to have until October to inform the team should he wish to activate a break in the deal.

It emerged last month that the Dutchman’s representatives had spoken with McLaren, although the latter’s Zak Brown has subsequently made clear that “I’ve got my two drivers” in Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri. Mercedes and Ferrari’s drivers are also under contract, seemingly limiting Verstappen’s short-term options beyond Red Bull, should he first choose to stay in F1, into 2027.

With it considered normal that Verstappen’s representatives would be keeping abreast of potential options for their driver elsewhere, Mekies was asked by Sky Sports F1 at the Belgian Grand Prix whether his team, in turn, had also received enquiries from drivers elsewhere on the grid.

“It’s working in both directions,” replied Mekies. “It’s completely natural and I think that’s what you guys were reporting before.

“It’s completely natural Max gets called from everyone because he’s the best driver in the world and, equally, if you are a top team, you are going to get calls from many of these good drivers around as well. That’s natural.

“Is it a distraction for us? Not really. The full focus is to get that car as fast as it can, then you will keep your best driver in the world and we also see there’s a massive growth of Isack [Hadjar] alongside Max.

“That for us is the ideal pairing and we try to make sure we can keep that pairing.”

Mekies is confident Red Bull will deliver on their ongoing quest to close its remaining gap to the front of the field after steps forward since the start of the season in F1’s new era of regulations.

Since a big upgrade of the RB22 three races ago at the Austrian Grand Prix, Verstappen has finished on the podium in two of the last three races, although endured a difficult Silverstone where he spun out late on due to a rear-wing fault.

Isack Hadjar finished sixth from 21st on the grid last weekend in Belgium to extend his run of top-six finishes to six races.

“All we need to do is to continue to progress with the car,” said Mekies.

“We started the season a bit more than one second off the pace and I don’t think we should be surprised at that.

“I think it’s a product of how late the title push was last year – a product of how late the title push was last year, a product of the incredible challenge of the new power unit.

“We started on the back foot but these guys did it again. We were more than a second away and we are now talking about the last two or three tenths for ultimate pace.

“When you are one second away, the drivers are going to be frustrated, Max is going to be frustrated. And we know it’s not the position we want to stay.

“To your point, the best way to close the subject is to go and get these last two or three tenths and that’s what everyone is focused on.”

Red Bull have seen the departure of a number of key figures associated with their past title-winning successes over the last two years, while Verstappen’s own race engineer and key ally, Gianpiero Lambiase, is heading to McLaren no later than 2028.

Asked how that sense of ‘transition’ at the team marries with attempts to keep Verstappen, Mekies said: “It’s more simple than what it seems, because ultimately it’s only about speed.

“Red Bull and Red Bull Racing only have one objective, it’s to win, and it’s the same objective that Max has.

“So, it’s not about, how can we prove to him that we can win. We are here to win anyhow.

“It’s the same group of people that have done the incredible turnaround last year, that was a few months ago. It’s the same group of people that, despite that late push, has managed to absorb nearly one second off our competitors, and they were not waiting for us in these first races.

“Now we are in the hardcore part of it, the last few tenths, the most difficult ones to get, but what we need to do is continue to work as a united group, and that’s how we’ll produce the best results.”

Formula 1 heads straight to Budapest for the Hungarian Grand Prix with every session live on Sky Sports F1 from this Friday. Stream Sky Sports with NOW – no contract, cancel anytime