Laurent Mekies believes a fast car will keep Max Verstappen at Red Bull

Red Bull head into 2026 on the back of a tough 2025 season in which Verstappen failed to win a fifth Drivers' Title simply because the team did not give him a decent car to fight with as they went through a tumultuous period with Christian Horner fired in addition to several staff departures.

As such, the four-time F1 Champion's future with Red Bull was always in doubt, and while he confirmed that he will see his current contract out—it runs till 2028—his future is far from decided.

Facing the media at the Autosport Business Exchange, Mekies was asked about Verstappen's future with the team.

He said: “I think we got that question pretty much every race last year. I will expect us to get it also every race this year.

"But seriously, one of the many incredible things with Max is that he's not sitting outside of the project, watching what we do and judging what we do.

“He is in the project," the Frenchman pointed out. "He takes the risk with us—he's aware of the risk-taking. He's aware that we take risks, as do Ford. He’s aware of the scale of the challenge. He lives and breathes motorsport, more than a large part of us.

“He is motorsport—he is day and night thinking motor racing. If it’s not Formula 1, it’s the GT3; if it’s not the GT3, it's the virtual races—whatever he comes up with next," he added.

But when quizzed further on what Red Bull can do to keep Verstappen with them, Mekies said: “You know, it's a fair point.

"We think Max wants a fast car, so we think the best way to make sure he wants to stay with us for as long as we can imagine is to give him a fast car, a combination of a fast chassis and a fast PU.

“As we say, we may not get that at the right level for race one," he added, referring to the regulation changes as well as Red Bull building a power unit for the first time with Ford.

He went on: "But because he understands so well motorsports, he will see the trajectories, and hopefully we can show him a strong enough trajectory that he feels that that group of people is going to produce the fastest car possible."