Max Verstappen ‘convinced’ Red Bull will be inferior to one F1 rival next year which could lead to 2026 move

Max Verstappen has the opportunity to match the legendary Michael Schumacher this year.

Not even Lewis Hamilton, Juan Manuel Fangio or Alain Prost managed to win five consecutive Formula 1 world championships, but Max Verstappen has the chance to do so in 2025.

Michael Schumacher dominated F1 from 2000 to 2004 and only a major rule change the following year toppled him and Ferrari as Fernando Alonso won his first title at Renault.

Red Bull don’t face the same level of regulation change until next season, but unlike Schumacher’s Ferrari, have already lost their edge over the rest of the field.

They missed out on the Constructors’ Championship to McLaren – and slipped behind Ferrari too – and the work they’ve done over the winter without Adrian Newey will be pivotal to Verstappen’s hopes.

The 27-year-old doesn’t plan to be racing in F1 forever and while Verstappen is loyal to Red Bull, he also wants to win.

That’s why the work going on behind the scenes at Red Bull’s Milton Keynes factory is so important this year.

While Verstappen may accept that a full push to win in 2025 would harm his chances of being at the front of the pack in 2026, he’ll also be relying on his team producing the best car next year if they’re forced to sacrifice this season.

According to a report from Motorsport, he’s already not confident that’s going to be the case.

Max Verstappen ‘convinced’ Mercedes will have the best engine for the 2026 F1 season

In the report from Motorsport, they talk about the reported growing interest from Aston Martin in Verstappen.

After hiring Adrian Newey and securing Honda power units from 2026 onwards, they would be a tantalising prospect for any driver on the grid.

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Aston Martin have categorically denied that they’ve made an approach for Verstappen with both Fernando Alonso and Lance Stroll on medium-term contracts.

However, Verstappen is also reportedly ‘convinced’ that Mercedes will have ‘the best power unit’ for the next generation of Formula 1 cars.

They even go on to say that Verstappen ‘actually aspires’ to drive for a team with a Mercedes engine, which will be music to team principal Toto Wolff’s ears.

Toto Wolff could finally achieve Max Verstappen signing thanks to Mercedes engines

Wolff didn’t hide his desire to sign Verstappen last year amid all the turmoil at Red Bull.

Having discovered that he would be losing Hamilton to Ferrari, it made sense for Wolff to go after the next-best driver on the grid.

However, the move never materialised and instead, Wolff decided to promote Andrea Kimi Antonelli in his place.

READ MORE: All you need to know about Mercedes F1 Team from team principal to lineage

However, Antonelli and teammate George Russell are both only on one-year contracts and while they’ll likely contain plenty of clauses that allow Mercedes to extend them into the future, it may allow for an easy break to bring Verstappen in.

Paddock whispers suggest Mercedes will have the best 2026 engine, backing up Verstappen’s feeling about their power units.

While a move to Mercedes would make the most sense for Verstappen, he could also explore joining McLaren, Williams or Alpine should a seat at any of those teams open up as they’ll also be using the same power unit.

Martin Brundle has been impressed by Red Bull’s Powertrains project, but that very different to the inside information Verstappen likely has about the engine that’s being developed alongside Ford.