Former key Max Verstappen ally reveals critical factor in call on Red Bull future

Max Verstappen must be "assured" that Red Bull is "moving in the right direction" to stay put long-term at the Milton Keynes-based squad, according to Jonathan Wheatley.

The Stake team principal worked closely with the Dutchman for numerous seasons and was an important figure in helping the 27-year-old to his first F1 drivers' championship in 2021.

Despite leaving mid-way through last season, Wheatley has a strong appreciation for the value Verstappen brings to the six-time constructors' champion, praising him as the catalyst of a "frisson of energy" within the team.

However, the Briton knows the 66-time grand prix winner needs to believe Red Bull is "on the right path" to see out the rest of his existing contract, which runs until the end of 2028, something that has become an acute uncertainty with Verstappen increasingly linked to pastures new.

As part of an exclusive interview with RacingNews365, Wheatley shares his experience of working alongside the four-time F1 drivers' champion since he stepped up from Toro Rosso midway through the 2016 campaign - and he is well-placed to explain how Red Bull can keep hold of its star asset.

Before becoming Stake boss, the 58-year-old was sporting director at the energy drinks-backed team from 2018, having first been team manager, beginning in 2006.

"Max is an extraordinary individual, not just driver," Wheatley says, reflecting on Verstappen as a person and competitor. "Probably the finest racing driver that I've ever seen, and he continues to develop and mature in a way that I find hugely impressive.

"Max knows exactly what he needs to make the car go faster. So his debriefs are tailored around that; there's very rarely any just general talk.

"He knows what he needs. He knows what he needs to make the car go faster, and there's a frisson of energy in the engineering office when you have a driver of Max's calibre in there."

What Red Bull must do

In particular, Verstappen has been closely linked with Mercedes and engaged in talks with Toto Wolff prior to the summer break, which was also before he committed himself to Red Bull for the 2026 season.

However, his future is still unsure beyond next year, and he could yet be the final pillar of the team's crumbling empire to fall.

Laurent Mekies has been brought in to steady the ship in Milton Keynes, but the prolonged decline it has experienced over the past two years has led to instability.

It ultimately cost Christian Horner his job after two decades at the helm. As both a cause and a consequence, key personnel, including Wheatley, were already heading for the door.

Adrian Newey departed for Aston Martin, another team keenly interested in the services of Verstappen, and Honda is also leaving for the Silverstone squad.

As a result, the 2026 regulations overhaul comes at the same point that the team embarks on a fresh, and daunting, test: becoming a works outfit for the first time.

To Wheatley, Mekies must now prove to Verstappen that Red Bull is the right place, despite the upheaval, to be as F1 - and the team - enters a new era.

"What makes you stay with a team? What makes you commit to a team and move forward with a team?" he questions, before providing his answer.

"It's really believing that you're on the right path. It's very rare in a driver's career that every single year he's in the team capable of winning a world championship. That's not how it works.

"But you make a commitment to a team, you then have to be assured that that team's moving in the right direction, and he'll base whatever decision on what he believes is the right thing to do."

Wheatley is well-versed in Verstappen, having cut his teeth in F1 at Benetton in the 1990s, where Jos Verstappen made his F1 debut in 1994.

However, father and son are "very different people", says Wheatley, who still has a good friendship with the elder.

"Well, they both have the same surname," he jokes when asked to compare to two. "I think, other than that, they're very, very different people, the way they go racing.

"Jos is an incredible talent. He came into Formula 1 alongside Michael Schumacher. Imagine the pressure he was under in 1994.

"I had a good relationship from the first time I met him, and I think it shows a mark of the man and the individual that 30 years later, we had dinner in Zandvoort... I think friendships stand the test of time."