Why Max Verstappen turned down Mercedes and joined Red Bull for his debut Formula 1 season

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Max Verstappen became F1’s youngest driver in history when he signed with Red Bull in 2015, turning down a move to Mercedes.

The Dutchman was on the radar of several F1 teams during his junior career. Racking up multiple karting championship titles, Verstappen was starting to dominate the field in car racing.

While racing in European F3, he was attracting the attention of top F1 teams, with Mercedes and Red Bull battling it out for his signature.

In the end, it was the latter who signed Verstappen after Helmut Marko convinced the hierarchy to bring him on board. He would go on to race with their junior team, Toro Rosso, in 2015 at just 17 years old.

Max Verstappen wanted to join F1 immediately and turned Mercedes down

At the time, Mercedes had just won the 2014 championship with Lewis Hamilton and were about to begin their domination of the turbo-hybrid era.

It would have been the perfect project for Verstappen to join, but the problem was that Mercedes did not have a space for him in the main team, with Hamilton and Nico Rosberg on board.

Furthermore, they did not have a second team that they could put the Dutchman in. As per The Race, Verstappen and his father, Jos, ‘were in a hurry’ to get to F1, and Red Bull could provide that with Toro Rosso.

Subsequently, Mercedes ‘wasn’t quite as appealing’ as Red Bull and lost out on the young talent. Team principal Toto Wolff later said that Verstappen made the right decision for his career, and that he and Hamilton would not have got on as teammates.

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Could Max Verstappen join Mercedes in 2017?

The links to Mercedes have continued throughout Verstappen’s career. Wolff tried to sign the Red Bull driver in 2024 amid the team’s internal crisis, but could not strike a deal.

As the drama continued with Christian Horner, Marko and his father, Mercedes went back in for Verstappen in 2025. He had an exit clause in his contract that allowed him to leave if he was not in the top three of the championship.

The 28-year-old opted to stay at Red Bull and has committed to seeing out his contract until 2028. However, he has another exit clause in 2026, and Mercedes will monitor his situation if Red Bull cannot provide him with a competitive car.