Is Red Bull’s Austrian GP upgrade make-or-break for Max Verstappen’s F1 future?

Max Verstappen has downplayed suggestions that Red Bull’s performance at the Austrian Grand Prix will determine his Formula 1 future. 

Red Bull is bringing a major upgrade package to its home race at Spielberg in a bid to vastly improve the team’s fortunes after a difficult start to the 2026 F1 season. 

Verstappen heads into the eighth round of the campaign sitting seventh in the drivers’ standings on 55 points. Over 100 points down on championship leader Andrea Kimi Antonelli, the Dutchman is not entertaining thoughts of a title fight. 

The four-time world champion’s future has been the subject of speculation for some time, but that is only hotting up after it emerged his contract that runs to 2028 contains a clause that would allow him to leave Red Bull early if he is placed lower than second in the championship by the August summer break. 

However, Verstappen has rejected the notion that the upcoming races will be make-or-break for his future. 

“It is crucial, I think, for us as a team,” Verstappen told media including Crash.net when asked that very question. “We want to just improve from where we started the season to where we want to end it. 

“We know that we are lacking performance, so it's more about just trying to improve the car. I think that's what everyone wants.”

Verstappen admitted after Barcelona that Red Bull currently feels like the “fourth team” on the F1 grid. Red Bull is making improvements but still has work to do to get back into the fight for victories. 

“Well let's see, right? Difficult to answer that right now. We, we don't like to be the fourth best team, so we want to be better,” he said when asked how patient he is. 

“That's what we are working on at the moment.”

With the development race fast-paced as rivals continue to bring new updates, Verstappen knows constant improvements will be required from Red Bull. 

“Those are the easier steps to make, right, when you're far behind,” he said. “The hardest one is always the last one to really fight for the win. So let’s see how we can do that, to be in that fight again, I'm not sure. 

“The team is always giving it 100% and pushing flat out to make the car faster. But we also know that other teams are also constantly bringing upgrades. 

“So we just need to always try and find a little bit more to try and close that gap. It was quite clear in Barcelona it's still a gap. Hopefully this weekend it can be a bit better.”