The ghost has evaporated. A speculation had been speculated for three quarters. Does he go to Mercedes? Who has to go for him? Can he go away from Red Bull at all? The last question has been clarified since the Grand Prix of Belgium last weekend. Because Max Verstappen ends July as the third in the World Cup. If he had been fourth or worse, he could have used his exit clause, but if he was still third in August, another team would have had to take a lot of money in hand to buy the best pilot from his contract. It wouldn’t have been Mercedes. The transfer fee would have developed into a three -digit million amount, including salary. Shortly before the Grand Prix of Hungary this Sunday (3:00 p.m. in the F.A.Z.-Live ticker for Formula 1 and at Sky), Verstappen confirmed the news: “I will drive for Red Bull next year.” “It would be unfair” for the four-time world champion, it is the better solution. Every decision in these days could turn out to be wrong in 2026. The consequence of the upcoming control reform, the largest in Formula 1 history, cannot be calculated. “In a year, Max can decide with the knowledge of who put the best package on the bikes. And he has a lot more options,” said Mercedes pilot George Russell, who is now faster in the cockpit, not entirely without his own benefit. In a year, places will also be released at Ferrari and Aston Martin. Maybe even at McLaren. Team boss Toto Wolff wanted to pour his drivers pure wine before the summer break: “To put them on the torture longer, would have been unfair.” Russell criticizes that the topic could have been treated better by the team in recent months: “As a driver, you would have liked clear announcements in the past.” Now he is sitting on the longer lever. Russell can imagine starting the summer vacation after the race at the gates of Budapest without a contract signature: “I have no hurry.” That sounds like negotiation poker, this time with other cards. Russell tries to correct the first impression: “I’m not about money or the number of my sponsor days. I want to win and need a car for it. Only that drives me.” Toto Wolff sat in the term. On the one hand, the best driver of the present was on the market. But how could he explain to sacrifice one of his drivers for Verstappen? Mercedes has invested a lot of money in the careers of George Russell and Andrea Kimi Antonelli. The young Italian should have jumped over the blade. The 18-year-old might have been parked with a friendly team and keep access to the talent. If Russell had gone to Red Bull in an exchange for Verstappen, the Englishman would have been lost forever. “Mercedes cannot avoid me” The 27 -year -old Englishman did not show the hanging section on the outside. He always called for his place aggressively: “I am currently driving the best season of my career and get out of the car what’s in. The facts speak for me. Mercedes cannot avoid me.” Russell would have accepted the direct confrontation with his arch enemy Verstappen: “I am not afraid.” Wolff, on the other hand, suspected that a lot of sensitivity would have been asked to keep them in a good mood in a team. For Antonelli, Verstappen could have become a career killer. Either as an overwhelming teammate or as a driver who takes away the cockpit. A team change after only one year would have disturbed Antonelli’s development as a racing driver. Red Bull often showed how to burn talents if you have too little patience for them. Max Verstappen will continue to drive for Red Bull. Pfür Antonelli has been stressful for the uncertainty: “I try to browse around as little as possible on social media. But you cannot escape such stories. And then you ask you the question. And then again and again. Then you need a good team around you. the novice takes. He can need it. After a good start to the season with a pole position for the sprint in Miami, a fastest racing round in Suzuka and the first podium in Montreal, there are now three races with zero points behind him. It is a curiosity that Antonelli brings his best achievements on tracks that he has never seen before. And that he could not yet win a World Cup point on the familiar European courses. “The curve is even faster” “A factor could be that I have underestimated the routes that I already know”, Antonelli tries to explain the shortcoming: “I may have loaded unnecessary pressure on myself. Antonelli takes too long to touch the limit with a light car and fresh tires. “You go into the curves so much faster than in the race. And in every round you think: The curve goes faster. I am not yet so far that I drive in the first round at the limit. Usually you try to prepare yourself in the free training sessions in such a way that you are fully there from the first round of qualification. But I still go into qualifications with too many question marks.” Teammate is currently suffering from the inexplicable problems of the car. The misery began in Imola when the engineers were supposed to form the W19 into a winning car with a new front wing and a new rear axle. Because the tires suddenly got too hot, the rear wheel suspension was put on hold for two races. When they returned to the race in Montreal and Russell won the race, the knot seemed burst. But since the great moment in Canada, the engineers have been more and more difficult to balance the racing car for different types of curves. It only worked in Montreal because all the curves are the same and because drivers complete the brake maneuvers there before they turn on the steering wheel. “I know that I can do it better” start the difficulties when the pilots start in “fast” curves with the steering process while they are still on the brake. Antonelli admits: “Since we drove with the new rear axle, I have lost the feeling for the car. My aggressive driving style made the car even more unpredictable. It was difficult for me to feel how much grip is still there.” Mercedes at Hungaroring returns to the old suspension a second time. “I don’t think we will shake the world with it, but it’s a good way to look for the mistake,” said Russell. Antonelli added: “I hope that my trust will return to the car.” The moods of the Mercedes led to mistakes in the young man from Bologna. And the fear of repetition to exaggerated caution. “I know that I can do it better,” he says: “I have already taken a good step in the race. I have to get better in the qualification.” Toto Wolff will give him a second chance, the last one. If Verstappen lifts his finger again in 2026, a place at Mercedes will be released.
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