Red Bull adviser confirms Max Verstappen staying for 2026
Team adviser Helmut Marko said Monday that the four-time defending F1 champion would return to the team in 2026 despite reported interest from Mercedes.
A widely reported exit clause in Verstappen's Red Bull contract would have allowed him to leave the team at year's end if he were fourth or lower in the championship standings as of the Hungarian Grand Prix, which takes place this Sunday.
Following the Belgian Grand Prix last Sunday, Verstappen sits in third place in the F1 standings and far enough ahead of fourth-place George Russell (28 points) that he cannot be caught in Hungary.
The understanding of Verstappen's situation was confirmed when Marko spoke to German outlet Sport.De.
"Yes, I can confirm that Max Verstappen will drive for Red Bull in 2026," Marko said.
Mercedes' cars are currently occupied by Russell and potential rising star Kimi Antonelli, but Mercedes boss Toto Wolff has not denied looking into pursuing Verstappen, the winningest F1 driver since his first championship in 2021.
Earlier this month, Red Bull abruptly dismissed team principal Christian Horner and replaced him with Laurent Mekies. Verstappen's agent told a Dutch outlet at the time that Verstappen remained committed to the team despite the change.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Gulf Today
2 hours ago
- Gulf Today
Climbers attempt rescue of German biathlete injured on Pakistan mountain
A team of foreign climbers were on Wednesday due to launch a rescue mission for German double biathlon champion Laura Dahlmeier, days after she was seriously injured by a rockfall on a Pakistani mountain. The accident happened around midday on Monday at an altitude of 5,700 metres on Laila Peak in the Karakoram range, according to a statement from her team on her official social media sites. Her climbing partner was able to sound the alarm after reaching safety. "It was determined that a helicopter rescue is not possible," Areeb Ahmed Mukhtar, a senior local official in Ghanche district, where the more than 6,000 metre (19,700 feet) mountain is located, told the media. This handout photograph taken on June 29, 2025 and released by Shipton Trek and Tours Pakistan shows German double biathlon champion Laura Dahlmeier (left) posing for photographs with her mountaineering partner Marina Eva (right) alongside tour operator Muhammad Iqbal Shigri, upon their arrival in Islamabad. AFP "The conditions at the altitude where she was injured are extremely challenging, and a team of foreign climbers will launch a ground rescue mission today," he added. Shipton Trek & Tours Pakistan, which organised the expedition, confirmed the ground rescue by a team of four that includes three Americans and a German mountaineer. The 31-year-old was "hit by falling rocks," her team said on Tuesday, adding no one had yet been able to reach her due to the danger of further rockfalls and the site's "remoteness". A helicopter managed to fly over the location and rescuers saw that "the experienced mountaineer is at least seriously injured", it said. "No signs of life were detected." Muhammad Ali, a local disaster management official, told AFP that weather conditions have been "extremely harsh" in the region for the past week, with rain, strong winds and thick clouds. Women's 7.5km biathlon sprint gold medalist Laura Dahlmeier, of Germany, celebrates during the medals ceremony at the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang, South Korea, Feb. 11, 2018. File/AP Dahlmeier, an experienced mountaineer, had been in the region since the end of June and had already ascended the Great Trango Tower. The International Biathlon Union said in a statement it was "thinking of Dahlmeier and her family, hoping for good news to emerge soon". She has won seven world championship gold medals, and at the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang she became the first female biathlete to win both the sprint and the pursuit at the same Games. Dahlmeier retired from professional competition in 2019 at the age of 25. She went on to become a commentator on biathlon events for German broadcaster ZDF, and also took up mountaineering. She is a certified mountain and ski guide and an active member of the mountain rescue, according to her team. Agence France-Presse
Gulf Today
3 hours ago
- Gulf Today
From farm to fame, Tandy recognised for 24 Hours grand slam
Nick Tandy's thirst for speed began when he was barely a teenager, driving a combine harvester around an open field on his father's farm. The only driver to have won every 24-hour endurance race -- a grand slam of Le Mans, Nuerburgring, Spa and Daytona -- the Briton was honoured on Tuesday with the Royal Automobile Club's Segrave Trophy for outstanding exploits on land, sea or air. Past winners include Formula One champions Lewis Hamilton, Jackie Stewart, Damon Hill and Nigel Mansell. Speaking to Reuters at the London club, and slightly stunned to be there, the Porsche factory driver accepted his path was perhaps not the typical one. Driving the combine had certainly made him want to go faster, though. "You just wanted to get the job done so you could go out and play with your friends," he said. Tandy still helps out when he can, going from 250kph around a racetrack to the wheel of a tractor at walking pace with a harrow on the back. "Everyone has their own back story and I'm country folk," he said. "I enjoy going back to the countryside. "I struggle going to places like Monaco but everyone's different I guess." Tandy, now 40, took overall victory at Le Mans' Sarthe circuit a decade ago, a 2015 victory shared with Earl Bamber of New Zealand and German F1 driver Nico Hulkenberg. At the time it was a box ticked, a dream come true. "But then of course you wake up the very next morning and think 'Right. What's next?'," he said. The answer came in 2018 when he won the Nuerburgring 24 Hours, again with Porsche. In 2020 he conquered the Spa 24 Hours with Bamber and Belgian Laurens Vanthoor. That left Daytona and Tandy had won the U.S. race previously in the GT class. "Somebody said to me 'you do realise nobody has ever won them all, overall, and you've won three and you've got a class win at Daytona'. And I thought 'Oof! Now there's a challenge'," he recalled. The Briton succeeded last January with Brazilian Felipe Nasr and Vanthoor. Tandy also won the 2015 Petit Le Mans at Road Atlanta, Georgia, and 12 Hours of Sebring in Florida last March -- becoming the first driver to win endurance racing's 'Big Six'. In a world where the car is more often the star, Tandy said he had been taken aback by the amount of interest suddenly penetrating his "little bubble". "I drive my little car in my little races around and around and kind of finish where we started up," he said. "I haven't been on water and driven a boat faster than anybody's ever done. I haven't won a world championship in a plane. I haven't circumnavigated the globe. "It makes you realise that what you've done actually is probably bigger than I ever thought." Comparisons have been made to double Formula One champion and Indianapolis 500 winner Jim Clark, an all-time great who came from a Scottish farming family and died in 1968. Tandy said being mentioned in the same breath as Clark was unbelievable but the background similarity was not such a surprise. "There's so many more other good drivers that come from farming," he said. "There's something about having the land available and growing up and driving machines, working on machines as well, and understanding mechanics. "I'm a professional racing driver... but when I come home, I can switch off and I go back to family life and working in my workshop, helping my dad on the farm. Just being a normal person." Reuters
Al Etihad
18 hours ago
- Al Etihad
German Olympic champion Dahlmeier injured after mountaineering fall in Pakistan, reports say
29 July 2025 20:33 BERLIN (REUTERS)German biathlete and double Olympic champion Laura Dahlmeier has been at least seriously injured in a mountaineering accident in Pakistan, German media reports citing her management and a Pakistan government spokesperson said on accident occurred on Monday when Dahlmeier was hit by a landslide in Hushe Valley in the northern mountain range in Gilgit-Baltistan province, said spokesperson Faizullah ZDF broadcaster reported that no emergency response had so far reached Faraq said Dahlmeier, according to reports from the remote valley, was taken away by locals from the landslide of her companions, identified as Kraus Marina Eva, was still stuck at the site, he retired from the sport in 2019, aged 25, a year after becoming the first female biathlete to achieve a sprint and pursuit double at the same management did not immediately respond to an emailed request for comment from said that a helicopter overflight on Tuesday had found no signs of rescue operation is under way with the cooperation of the Pakistan army, Faraq said, adding that bad weather meant a helicopter had been unable to reach the country's northern mountainous regions have experienced heavy flooding and landslides, killing several local tourists during the current monsoon spell of rains. Flooding and other rain-related accidents have killed 288 people in Pakistan since the monsoon season began in late June, says the country's National Disaster Management Authority.
