The 'will he, won't he?' storyline of Max Verstappen potentially leaving Red Bull will be one of the major talking points of the rest of the 2025 F1 season.
The reigning champion is being heavily courted by Mercedes, who are hoping to cash in on the Verstappen camp's unease at the current competitive fall from grace the team is enduring.
Having won 35 of the 43 races between the 2022 French and 2024 Spanish GPs, Verstappen has only claimed four wins from the last 26, stretching back to Austria 2024 as Red Bull's performance has dropped off a cliff.
Whilst Verstappen's genius has been able to keep the lead Red Bull in the title and race win hunt, the second Red Bull car is almost non-existent.
He has scored 347 points since the 2024 British GP, with the three occupants of the second seat scoring 41 between them, and only seven this season through Yuki Tsunoda.
If Verstappen's 165 of Red Bull's 172 points this season were removed, Red Bull would be last in the constructors'.
As a result of this slide, boss Christian Horner was given a surprising sack in early July, with Laurent Mekies facing the huge task of turning the team around, but will Verstappen be a part of it?
Given how much the car has been tailored to Verstappen, would a clean break and reset actually be beneficial for Red Bull to create, perhaps a slower car in theory, but a more user-friendly one for its two drivers?
Let us know what you think by voting in the poll below and in the comments!
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