Kelly Piquet’s brother outlines when Max Verstappen will ‘make a decision’ on his Red Bull future

Max Verstappen’s future at Red Bull has been the subject of a lot of speculation, following their difficult start to the 2025 season.

The Dutchman has won one race out of five and only finished on the podium three times, having struggled in races which feature high tyre attrition.

Verstappen has worked wonders to drag a result out of the car, as evidenced by the gulf in points between himself and teammate Yuki Tsunoda. Although Tsunoda has only been in the car for three races, he has only amassed five points compared to Verstappen’s 87 points.

Although he is contracted to the Milton Keynes squad until the end of the 2028 season, there are concerns that Verstappen could leave Red Bull if they are not competitive for the 2026 regulation change.

Discussing the situation on the Pelas Pistas podcast, Nelson Piquet Jr has outlined when he thinks Verstappen will decide on his future.

Nelson Piquet Jr thinks Max Verstappen will make Red Bull future decision midway through 2026

F1 will see a dramatic regulation change in 2026 when it implements new chassis and engine rules, and Red Bull is said to be worried about Mercedes.

Red Bull has an impressive engine facility at its Milton Keynes base, where it is working in conjunction with Ford on its 2026 power unit. If Mercedes emerge as the team to beat, Verstappen will likely consider his options at Red Bull according to Piquet.

Piquet: “He will make a decision at the end of 2026 as to what he wants to do. Let’s suppose that Mercedes starts 2026 with a huge gap like they did at the start of the hybrid era in 2014, for the other teams to recover, it will take at least two to three seasons.

Fittipaldi: “But you can’t say what will happen in 2026 because it hasn’t even started yet?”

Piquet: “No, but he’ll make the decision in the middle of 2026.”

• READ MORE: Everything we know about F1’s 2026 regulation changes from engines to tyres

FIA and F1 to implement rules to allow teams to catch up

To prevent another scenario like Mercedes had in 2014 when the first hybrid regulations came into effect, the FIA has outlined new rules to allow teams to catch up.

At a recent F1 Commission meeting, the FIA have agreed in principal to a mechanism that would allow the engine manufacturers facing a performance shortfall to catch up.

This would not only prevent one team from running away with a significant performance advantage, but it would also prevent another scenario like Alpine. They have faced a performance deficit throughout the current regulations, which led to Renault closing their 2026 engine project.

If Red Bull does find itself behind rivals, Verstappen could be assured that they have the resources to catch up if this catch-up system is approved.