Max Verstappen reminded of 'very important' factor in decision over F1 future

Thierry Boutsen has warned Max Verstappen that feeling comfortable inside a team is "very important" as the Dutchman weighs up his options beyond the 2026 F1 season.

Verstappen is contracted to Red Bull until the end of 2028, but performance-related exit clauses could allow him to leave at the end of this year, with McLaren widely reported as the only credible alternative destination.

Mercedes has been effectively ruled out, with Toto Wolff publicly committing to George Russell and Kimi Antonelli while acknowledging that "the Max to Mercedes thing for now is not on."

McLaren team principal Andrea Stella, meanwhile, has jokingly suggested Verstappen would need to "wait for the FIA to introduce a third car," insisting he is happy with Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri.

Verstappen himself has repeatedly played down the speculation. Ahead of the Belgian Grand Prix, he told media: "There's nothing to say. I said already many times that if there was something new, I would say it myself."

Boutsen, the Belgian who won three grands prix during an 11-season F1 career that included stints with Arrows, Benetton, Williams, Ligier and Jordan between 1983 and 1993, believes the decision is far from straightforward.

"It's very difficult to say," the former F1 driver told the official Formula 1 website. "It's maybe a good moment to move, but maybe it's a bad moment to move. It's his decision, how he feels. The way you feel inside the team is very important.

"Moving to a new team, for sure, he will feel good; he will have the support of the team. But how long is that going to last? Is that going to last as long as it lasted with Red Bull? I don't know."

Verstappen sits sixth in the standings on 109 points after 11 rounds, with a best finish of second in Austria and Hungary and three retirements hampering his campaign.

He and Red Bull are yet to win a race this season, raising the prospect of their first winless year since 2015, and Verstappen's first with the team.

"I cannot advise him; he does what he wants to do," Boutsen added. "I'd like to see what he does. It will be very interesting for himself, for the rest of F1, and for the rest of the world, I would say.

"He's always been in a good position there, and he's been winning races. He almost won the championship last year, and if he didn't have the problems in Austria and Britain [this season], it would look much different. So, he's not far off."