Could Max Verstappen leave Red Bull after this season?

After just four races, the 2025 Formula 1 season has been anything but smooth sailing for Red Bull and Max Verstappen, which has caused concern for the driver's future with the team. 

As reported by ESPN, Red Bull's motorsport adviser Helmut Marko has alluded to growing concern within the team that Verstappen will leave the team at the end of the season.

Verstappen has a performance-based exit clause in his contract that allows him to leave the team early if it fails to provide a car that is constantly at the top of the field winning races and championships. 

Through the first four races of the season, Verstappen finished second in Australia, fourth in China, first in Japan and sixth in Bahrain. While these seem like good results, the win in Japan has been an outlier in what has been a shocking season in terms of Red Bull's car performance. 

Verstappen has had a tough time with the car, with complaints focused on the handling of the unbalanced car which makes it hard to predict through corners.

If Verstappen were to activate his exit clause, there are only two teams that seem like realistic landing spots: Mercedes and Aston Martin.

Mercedes driver George Russell is out of contract at the end of the season and if Verstappen were to become available, Mercedes could sacrifice extending Russell to bring in the Dutch driver to partner with their long-term project Kimi Antonelli.

A potential move to Aston Martin focuses on former Red Bull engineer Adrian Newey, who recently joined the British team. Newey is the genius behind designing all of Verstappen's championship-winning Red Bull cars and ahead of the new regulations set to come in next year, a move to Aston Martin could be appealing to Verstappen.