Will strong Austrian GP help Red Bull keep Verstappen? Our verdict

The Austrian Grand Prix weekend featured a massive Red Bull upgrade, fresh rumours about Max Verstappen's Formula 1 future, and then his best result of the 2026 season.

After all that, is Verstappen - who's on the brink of being able to trigger a Red Bull contract exit clause if he wants - more or less likely to stay on at the team with which he's won all his titles?

Here are our team's thoughts:

Engine still a question mark

Josh Suttill

There's no doubt Red Bull's chassis has passed a crucial test. If the upgrade failed this weekend and the team remained fourth-best, I can't see how Verstappen could have faith that this Red Bull 2.0 has what it takes to develop a championship-winning car.

The biggest question for me is whether it can develop its engine to be a match for the Mercedes. 

We know its internal combustion engine has been rated as F1's best, but it's all the other electrical-related components where it appears to be lagging behind.

Given there are fears it could be 'trapped' by its rivals into not getting the ADUO upgrades Mercedes and Ferrari are enjoying, there is a proper question mark over a crucial part of the package Verstappen will have.

If Red Bull can't sufficiently answer those fears, I can see why a move to a Mercedes-powered McLaren team would be an appealing alternative. 

A promising race - but Ferrari flattered Red Bull

Gary Anderson

I'm pretty sure that whatever parts Red Bull actually had left and raced after Verstappen's qualifying shunt must have put a smile on his face.

He was competitive and looked like he was having fun - and that his car was at least best of the rest behind the two Mercedes cars.

He was helped a little by Ferrari going a bit off-piste with its strategy. It's easy to be critical in hindsight but pitting Lewis Hamilton early on lap 13 for hard tyres and then softs 13 laps later on lap 26 (even if it was under a VSC) was declaring to all that Ferrari was on a three-stop. When taking advantage of that VSC why not fit another set of hards and at least try to run to the end? Even if you couldn't achieve it you then had the option near the end of the race when everyone spread out a bit to fit those softs.

On another note, while it was a fun race, we did see a bit of the old 'after you, no after you' racing coming back as each driver made best use of their deployment and harvesting strategy. Let's see how Silverstone pans out, it's a real drivers' circuit.

Hopefully we will see a race where the drivers can really influence the end result and it doesn't come down to the electrical deployment strategy.

Pace really helps Red Bull's contract talks

Ben Anderson

It certainly won't hurt Red Bull's chances, especially considering it threw a massive upgrade package at the car for this race and that could just have easily backfired as paid off.

It was interesting to see that Q3, run one, pace - where Verstappen was within a tenth of the two Mercedes before that straight mode problem threw him into the barriers - was genuine. He was a proper threat to Mercedes in this race and maybe could have won it with a better grid position.

Obviously everyone needs to be wary of getting carried away with one strong race. We only need to consider the fact Ferrari went from race winner to abject disappointment in the space of one high-altitude circuit to realise how quickly the picture can change.

But that works both ways too. Red Bull, and Verstappen in particular, took a massive step forward in Austria. If that can translate to Silverstone, Spa and Hungary before F1's summer break, then there's a much better chance Red Bull will be able to hang on to its prized asset without having to hand him the universe.

He's highly unlikely to be inside the top two in the standings by then, so is most likely to hold the trump cards when it comes to any contract negotiations and leveraging that exit clause the world knows he holds.

Talks with other teams - like those that have been reported to have taken place between his management and McLaren, for instance - are all part of that same game. 

Red Bull is almost certainly going to have to barter with Verstappen regardless to keep him. But none of that really matters if the car is simply no good.

Regardless of whether Max is minded to leave or not, this sort of performance step puts Red Bull in a much better position than it was two weeks ago.