Max Verstappen has been with Red Bull since day 1 of his F1 career. Starting his career at their junior team, and rising through the ranks to become a 4x world champion, it has been a successful journey. But could the partnership potentially be coming to an end? Does the Dutchman have exit clauses in his contract based on where he is in the championship in 2025?
Max Verstappen currently sits third in the 2025 F1 drivers’ standings. This is the first time the driver is not leading the world championship since May 2022. Such has been Red Bull’s dominance in the past three seasons. But the Austrian team are seemingly struggling to provide Verstappen with a quick enough car to compete with McLaren in 2025.
Multiple reports over the past few months have suggested that Max Verstappen does have numerous exit clauses in his Red Bull contract. These are said to be based on the team’s performance and competitiveness in comparison to other teams around them. But is there a specific clause in Verstappen’s contract which allows him to leave if he is outside the top three in the championship?
Could Max Verstappen trigger an exit clause if he is outside the top three in the championship?
Multiple news outlets have reported that Max Verstappen does have a clause in his contract that allows him to leave Red Bull if he is outside of the top 3 in the drivers’ championship “after a significant part of the season.” Further reports have also suggested that this could be as early as the summer break.
No official source has ever confirmed the existence of such a release clause. But Red Bull’s top management, including Christian Horner, has previously expressed their worries regarding performance-related exit clauses in Verstappen’s contract. But the exact nature of the clauses have never been officially revealed.
As things stand, Verstappen would not be able to trigger this contract, if it indeed exists. The reigning world champion currently sits third in the drivers’ standings. He has a 26-point buffer over George Russell in P4 after nine rounds of the 2025 season.
Ralf Schumacher’s conspiracy theory regarding Max Verstappen’s exit clause
Recently, former F1 driver, Ralf Schumacher, had floated the idea that Max Verstappen had ulterior motives behind his crash with George Russell at the Spanish Grand Prix. The German questioned whether the aforementioned exit clause could potentially be the reason behind Verstappen’s “unnecessary” move.
The driver crashed into Russell on purpose in the final stages of the race in Barcelona. Verstappen received widespread criticism for this move. He later put it down to frustration, along with an expression of regret, via an Instagram post.
But Ralf Schumacher had a different theory. He suggested that there was a chance that Verstappen crashed to gain the minimum points possible. This would bring him closer to P4 in the standings, which could lead to him triggering the exit clause.
“You have to pay attention now – if there is such a clause – why do such things suddenly happen? And why do you get a punishment that is so unnecessary? It can also be that when you have made the decision for yourself, you no longer want to make sure that it is so.” said Schumacher. [via BILD]
Both Christian Horner and Helmut Marko branded this suggestion from Schumacher as “nonsense“, in separate interviews.
