Max Verstappen has made a habit of having frustrating Fridays during the 2025 F1 season. Red Bull have generally been able to address their balance problems overnight and deliver a competitive car.
The best example was the Japanese GP back in April. Verstappen ended FP2 over half a second off the pace of the McLarens, and eighth in the timings, but a day later, he produced a sublime pole lap that teed up a race victory.
Still, Verstappen may be tired of ending up in a hole after day one. He’s within his rights to question why his engineers are consistently missing the mark with their initial setup.
At Silverstone, the four-time world champion looked like a non-factor. 10th in FP1, he climbed to fifth in FP2 but was still 0.498s off Lando Norris’ benchmark.
Max Verstappen said his radio was ‘luckily’ broken at British Grand Prix
Verstappen furiously complained about the handling of his RB21 over the radio during second practice. At one point, he simply said ‘unbelievable’ after sliding through the technical section at the start of the lap.
In another message that wasn’t broadcast, engineer Gianpiero Lambiase told Verstappen his radio wasn’t clear, to which he replied: “Yeah, luckily it isn’t.”
Scathing comments like this have taken on an added significance after Mercedes confirmed they’re in talks with Verstappen over a 2026 seat. Over on Reddit, it was said that Toto Wolff is now ‘rubbing his hands together’.
One fan declared that the ‘Mercedes contract is getting signed tonight’, and another agreed that ‘Toto is printing it’. The Austrian will be ‘sprinting’ to put it in front of his dream target.
“Where can I preorder the Mercedes #33 merch?” a fellow user quipped, while George Russell was also told to ‘pack his bags’ as he waits, perhaps in vain, for a new deal.
Does Max Verstappen need to join Mercedes to revive his popularity?
The feeling is that Christian Horner would let Verstappen go if he asked to leave. That may be seen as the right thing to do given that he’s spent over a decade with the team and won 65 races.
That means Verstappen’s exit clause, the terms of which have been debated, may not be decisive. But Mercedes will still have to pay nine-figure compensation to get the deal done.
Verstappen couldn’t sell out his grandstand at the Austrian GP last weekend, which is arguably a sign that he’s lost some popularity this year. McLaren’s title battle has grabbed the spotlight.
A move to Mercedes, widely believed to have the edge with their 2026 power unit, could see him resume his dominance and pull some of his fans back in.
