David Coulthard has weighed in on Max Verstappen’s future, arguing that Ferrari — not Mercedes — would be the right destination if the four-time world champion ever leaves Red Bull.
Verstappen remains under contract with Red Bull through 2028, but speculation has followed him for years. Mercedes boss Toto Wolff courted him publicly after Lewis Hamilton’s departure, Aston Martin entered the conversation when Adrian Newey joined the Silverstone team, and most recently McLaren has been mentioned in connection with a potential straight swap involving Oscar Piastri and Verstappen’s race engineer GianPiero Lambiase, who joins McLaren no later than 2028.
McLaren CEO Zak Brown shut down that talk in Miami.
“I couldn’t be happier with our driver line-up. Lando and Oscar are not only two great guys on and off the track, but also shine as teammates. I couldn’t be happier with what we have and have no intention of changing anything about it.”
Brown credited the Norris-Piastri pairing as a key factor in McLaren’s recent success, including their 2025 constructors’ championship.
Red Bull Improvements Dampen Exit Talk
Former W Series racer Naomi Schiff believes Verstappen has little reason to leave if Red Bull continues its upward trajectory. The team struggled early in 2026, with Verstappen more than eight tenths off pole in the opening three races. The Dutchman made his frustration known, complaining about the RB22 and the new engine formula.
But Miami brought a shift. Formula 1 tweaked engine regulations, and Red Bull arrived with seven new parts. Verstappen qualified second, just 0.166 seconds behind Lando Norris, before an early spin in the grand prix dropped him to fifth.
Schiff told the Up To Speed podcast that Red Bull’s progress has changed the equation.
“I think the way that they were looking like at the beginning of the season, then maybe he would have been starting to think: ‘OK, how do we make this work? Or can we make this work?’ Because we know that they’ve been having conversations in the background. But things are looking on the up and I know that Max has said on a number of occasions that if things are going well at Red Bull, he doesn’t have any desire to leave. I think the pressure is more so on Red Bull to make sure they do deliver and give him a car that he can win with, so that he stays to the end of his contract.”
Coulthard: Ferrari Fits Verstappen Better Than Mercedes
Coulthard, who raced for McLaren and Red Bull during his F1 career, dismissed Mercedes as the natural landing spot for Verstappen. Instead, he pointed to Ferrari.
“I think that Max actually, as a shoo-in, fits better to the Ferrari world than the Mercedes world. I know that they have this good relationship and I know that he’s racing a Mercedes in the GT3 events that he does. But the freedom to be Max, I think would be a more comfortable fit at Ferrari because you would just turn up, drive quickly, presumably win the races and then head home.”
Verstappen has expanded his racing activities beyond Formula 1, competing in GT3 endurance events including the upcoming 24 Hours of Nürburgring, where he drives a Mercedes.
Ferrari’s current driver lineup features Charles Leclerc, who signed a multi-year extension running through 2027, and Lewis Hamilton, who joined the team in 2025 and holds a reported option for a third season in 2027.
For now, Verstappen’s immediate focus remains on Red Bull’s development trajectory. The next test arrives at the Monaco Grand Prix on May 25, where the RB22’s improvements will face one of the calendar’s most demanding circuits.