As Red Bull's alarming slump in performance showed no signs of improving under Christian Horner's leadership, rumours emerged that Max Verstappen was locked in serious negotiations with Mercedes for a 2026 seat.
It was no secret that Toto Wolff was keen to lure Verstappen to Brackley for 2025, but ultimately, Verstappen stayed put. There is no such thing as a coincidence in F1, so was it therefore any surprise that in the build-up to Red Bull's home race in Austria, those rumours went into overdrive?
Verstappen is Red Bull's most valuable asset, and losing him would be a devastating blow. Of the 172 points the team has scored this season, Verstappen has 165 of them.
Since the 2024 British GP, Verstappen has scored 347 points, his three team-mates in Sergio Perez, Liam Lawson, and Yuki Tsunoda have 41 between them.
As the Verstappen-to-Mercedes links intensified, Horner did his best impression of a batter blocking vicious fast bowling to any questions regarding Verstappen's Red Bull contract.
The standard refrain would be "We do not comment on driver contracts," and the next question would be thrown down to either be blocked or whacked away, and to lob a grenade here or there, usually aimed in Zak Brown's direction.
But the existence of a break clause in Verstappen's contract has not been denied, which would allow him to trigger an exit from Red Bull for 2026 if certain conditions are not met.
What is not in doubt is that the clause only remains active until the summer and relates to Verstappen's position in the drivers' championship. It is the finer details which remain shrouded in mystery.
RacingNews365 understands that the break clause can only be triggered if Verstappen is outside of the top three in the drivers' standings - the position he currently occupies.
However, there have been some reports that it can only be triggered if the Dutchman is outside of the top four in the championship.
In what turned out to be his final appearance before the F1 media at Silverstone on Sunday after the British Grand Prix, in which Verstappen recovered to fifth after an unusual spin from second in the wet, Horner dropped a 'blink-and-you-miss-it' hint about the break clause.
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Max Verstappen's Red Bull contract and future
Verstappen is currently 46 points ahead of fifth-placed Charles Leclerc in the standings after the British GP, with 58 on the board between now and the summer break from the Belgian and Hungarian GPs, with Spa a sprint event.
It is therefore a very slim chance that Verstappen will drop below fourth in the standings and into fifth, but dropping outside of the top three? That is a real possibility.
Ironically, it is Mercedes' George Russell in fourth place, just 18 points behind Verstappen - certainly a deficit which can be made up in the two race weekends.
Fielding a question about how he could rally the troops after Silverstone, Horner, unprompted, name-checked Russell.
"We got performance on the car from the upgrade we brought, and was able to balance it for qualifying at a track which is very heavily aero-dependent," he began to tell the media, including RacingNews365.
"We out-scored George Russell, so we are where we are."
That is an interesting comment to make when asked a question about what, at that stage, was still Horner's team.
Russell's difficult afternoon at Silverstone ended with a 10th-placed finish after opting to pit for slicks on the formation lap, which ruined his afternoon. He was not a factor in Verstappen or Red Bull's race, so Horner's referring to the Briton off the cuff is certainly intriguing.
Russell picked up a solitary point, with Verstappen 10 for fifth-place, doubling the lead from nine after Austria to 18 after Silverstone.
Why would you concern yourself with what Russell and Mercedes did, unless, for argument's sake, there was a break clause in your lead driver's contract that he could leave for next season if he was outside the top three in the standings, and the deadline for it to be triggered is fast approaching?
As it was, two days after this final media briefing, Horner was privately told he was being removed from operational duties as team principal and CEO, with the news publicly communicated the next day.
Verstappen's future, break clause and all, is now Laurent Mekies' problem. And a big one at that.
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