Raymond Vermeulen has confirmed the exit clause and floated a decision before the summer break, leaving a struggling Red Bull with a problem money may not solve.

For two seasons the noise around Max Verstappen’s future has come from everyone except the people who actually decide it. This week one of them finally spoke, and what he said should unsettle Red Bull.

That voice belonged to Raymond Vermeulen, Verstappen’s long-time manager, who for the first time confirmed publicly what the paddock has suspected for months: the four-time champion’s contract contains a way out, and it may be used soon. “It could be made before the summer break,” he told Sport Bild of a decision on Verstappen’s future. After years of his camp letting others do the talking, that is a deliberate shift in tone.

The mechanics explain why. Verstappen is signed to Red Bull through 2028, but the deal carries a performance trigger. If he sits outside the top two of the drivers’ standings when the season pauses for summer, after the Hungarian Grand Prix on July 26, he is free to leave for 2027. The window to act on it reportedly stretches as far as October, meaning this hangs over Red Bull for half a season rather than a single weekend.

On current form, the trigger looks a formality. Verstappen is seventh, 101 points behind runaway leader Kimi Antonelli and 60 adrift of second-placed Lewis Hamilton, with just one podium to his name all year, a third in Canada inherited when Russell stopped. Hauling himself into the top two inside four races is, realistically, beyond him, and Red Bull is understood to privately accept that the clause will become live.

What governs everything is the condition Vermeulen attached. “Max wants to end his career here,” he said, but only, he stressed, with a realistic chance of winning. That is not a pledge of loyalty so much as a price. Red Bull keeps Verstappen if, and only if, Red Bull gives him a car capable of winning, and the 2026 machine has not been that car.

Faced with losing control of its own timeline, the team is reportedly exploring a different route: buying the clause out altogether, for a fee said to run into the low tens of millions, simply to restore some certainty to its 2027 planning. Even that would not necessarily secure his signature beyond next year. It would only remove the escape hatch, not the underlying doubt.

The stakes stretch well past Milton Keynes. Verstappen has spent 2026 openly frustrated with the new regulations, at times flirting with walking away from the sport entirely, though that talk softened once the rule-makers agreed to rebalance the formula by 2028. A genuinely available four-time champion would be the single biggest domino in the driver market, with Mercedes, McLaren and a Newey-equipped Aston Martin all credible destinations should he choose to move.

The real significance of Vermeulen breaking his silence is the clock he has started. Red Bull no longer decides when this question gets answered, only whether it can make its car fast enough for the answer to be yes. Laurent Mekies’ team brings a substantial upgrade to its home race in Austria next week, and it may be the most important package it fits all season. Red Bull is no longer just racing for points. It is racing to keep Max Verstappen.

Thumbnail: Getty Images / Red Bull Content Pool