Max Verstappen to Take Sabbatical From F1 in 2026? Shocking Claim Emerges Amid Red Bull Future Talks

As Red Bull Racing have struggled for consistent competitiveness in the 2025 Formula 1 season, there has been a lot of speculation around the F1 future of Max Verstappen. 

The four-time F1 world champion has said he is relaxed about his future, but that hasn't stopped him from being linked to other teams on the paddock - especially Mercedes and Aston Martin. 

Mercedes team boss Toto Wolff has previously spoken to Verstappen about a move, whereas an Aston Martin switch would reunite him with car design genius Adrian Newey and the Honda engines that powered all four of his championship runs. 

But a new, more extreme solution has emerged which casts fresh light on Verstappen's future options. 

Verstappen to Do an Alonso/Raikkonen?

According to a report in BBC Sport, Verstappen is considering a sabbatical from the sport in 2026 to properly assess his options. 

The report further claims that a source close to the driver mentioned it as an option. The idea would be to assess the competitive nature of the grid and pick accordingly. 

This has happened before in F1 - Fernando Alonso took a brief sabbatical after the 2018 season and came back in 2021. 

Kimi Raikkonen did the same in 2009 before returning to the sport in 2012. Even Michael Schumacher returned 4 years after his first retirement in 2006. 

‘Red Bull Not in Crisis’

Given the chaos around Red Bull has remained strong, it is easy to understand why Verstappen would want to step away from the team. 

However, team principal Christian Horner has defended the team and said that they are not in crisis. 

"There's not a crisis. We're not where we want to be, we've got some issues with the car that we're working through and the whole team's working incredibly hard."

He did, however, agree with Verstappen's assessment that the car had difficulties built into it and admitted that the team were working to make the car better for both Verstappen and Yuki Tsunoda.