Karun Chandhok has suggested that Max Verstappen should stay put at Red Bull for the 2026 season and observe the lay of the land before making a decision about his future on the F1 grid. The Dutchman has been heavily linked with a move to Mercedes for the new regulations.

“I guess the answer is yes [he would leave],” Sky Sports F1 pundit Chandhok explained. “We don’t know what the thresholds are in terms of being able to extricate himself from the Red Bull contract. But if you were Max Verstappen, you would look at next year in particular and look at the performance of all of the top four teams and then pick and choose where you want to go for the future.

“Because I think any of the teams on this grid would want to have Max in the car. He is the standout driver of recent times. And in Max’s case, the new generation of rules, the new generation of power units could set the tone for the next five, six years, like it happened with Lewis [Hamilton] back in 2014.

“I feel like next year, there’s a bit of a dance going on where people are trying to gauge the situation and then in 2027 the market could go completely mad. But reading between the lines, that’s where the complication is.

“Because what does that mean? [Does Mercedes] give George just a one-year deal? Does he want that? He wants long-term stability. So that’s where I think there’s some complexities in terms of ironing this whole deal out.”