Red Bull set record straight on 'annoying' Max Verstappen rumours

Red Bull adviser Helmet Marko has hit out at the persistent speculation linking Max Verstappen with a shock move to rival F1 team Mercedes.

The 82-year-old is adamant the Dutchman, who is under contract with the Milton Keynes squad until 2028, cannot sign anything with the Toto Wolff-led outfit.

Since George Russell revealed over the Austrian Grand Prix that Verstappen and his team were in talks over a potential deal, it has set the rumour mill into overdrive.

Wolff, Red Bull team principal Christian Horner and Verstappen himself fielded questions on the matter at the Red Bull Ring, but the story has developed in the lead-up to the British Grand Prix.

It has been reported that the discussions between Mercedes and the four-time F1 drivers' champion have intensified, but Marko is insistent that the 27-year-old is currently in no position to move forward.

Even though Horner has long maintained he would not stand in Verstappen's way should he wish to leave, it is understood he has a clause in his contract that allows him to leave Red Bull, but only if he is outside the top three in the drivers' standings at the summer break.

"He hasn't signed and he can't," Marko told Kleine Zeitung to that effect. "It's just getting annoying now.

"The same questions keep coming up, and we keep giving the same answers, because nothing has changed in the initial situation."

A second (seat) dilemma

The re-emergence of Verstappen's ties to Wolff and Mercedes means Red Bull is now battling driver difficulties on two fronts, with its second-seat dilemma continuing to plague its constructors' championship standing.

Since replacing Liam Lawson two rounds into the current campaign, Yuki Tsunoda has struggled. In nine rounds, he has managed a mere seven points.

His lack of form in the difficult-to-handle RB21 has led to the suggestion that the team could move onto a third driver in the second seat this season, which would take the squad up to its four-driver limit across both cars.

However, according to Marko, that is not the case, despite conversations between Tsunoda and the team.

"The plan is for him to finish the season; nothing has changed about that," the Austrian added.

"We don't have any alternative. We've had discussions with him, including with the engineering team. He was completely out of sorts in Spielberg. We want to stabilise him and not set up the car so harshly towards Max. That could help him."