Verstappen opens up emotionally about his thoughts of a Mercedes switch

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Sandy van Wijngaarden

Max Verstappen has won the Formula 1 World Championship for the fourth time in his career. During the season - which was also often difficult for the Red Bull Racing driver- there was often talk of a move to Mercedes or even an exit from F1. Verstappen responded after the win.

With political events between Christian Horner and Jos Verstappen, Adrian Newey's departure, and the RB20 getting slower by the race, there was even talk of Verstappen leaving Red Bull. After securing his fourth title at the Las Vegas GP, he addressed this at a press conference.

Verstappen: 'I am very loyal to this team'

At the press conference - specially scheduled for the world champion - Verstappen reacted to the much-discussed rumours surrounding a move to Mercedes or an exit from the top class of motorsport. The 27-year-old indicated that those thoughts did cross his mind at times.

"To be honest, I think in your life, every year there are always thoughts going through your head, ‘how long do I still want to do this?’, ‘Where do I want to do this?’, ‘How do I want to do this?’. There are things in your private life that happen in your racing life. So there are always things that you have to deal with and think about. But that's fine. I think in general, quite relaxed about these things, because it's very important to split your private life and racing life," said the 2024 world champion.

"But at the same time, I'm also not someone who makes very drastic decisions. I'm just very happy where I'm at at the moment. I'm very loyal to the team. I appreciate, of course, what they have done for me from picking me up out of F3 and giving me an F1 seat. Then going through all these emotions over all the years with these key people in the team," Verstappen added. The Dutchman still has a contract at Red Bull until 2028.

For now, Verstappen just wants to have fun

So Verstappen is enjoying himself at Red Bull's top team. The four-time world champion - who arrived at the Austrian racing team in 2016 - says he has developed a very good relationship with his team. "So when there are tough times, it's very easy to say goodbye or forget about it or ignore it," he said.

"But I think it's actually way more important to actually face them and go through it together and deal with it and just try to just move on from there and then focus back, of course, on the performance side of things and have fun out there. That's at the end of the day the most important. If you're not having fun, then there's no point to continue," concluded Verstappen.

This article has been created in collaboration with Matt Gretton