According to Italian channel: 'Deal is done, Verstappen to Mercedes in 2026'

Earlier on Tuesday, a German RTL reporter wrote that Max Verstappen is close to joining Mercedes and that he will have more intensive talks with the team in the coming weeks. GPblog already reported that this is not correct. The four-time world champion has firmly indicated that he will stay with Red Bull. But Verstappen's camp is not crazy and is keeping its options open.

A switch to another team could only really become a reality when, supposedly, Christian Horner's power is not scaled back. A switch to Mercedes does not seem like a logical choice, as GPblog has understood that the German team is currently not seen as a step forward performance-wise.

The Italian branch of Sky Sports added fuel to the fire of the German's noises and published the story around midnight that Verstappen had even agreed to a deal with the Silver Arrows, but that part of the management had not yet given the green light.

According to this site, this is not the case. As indicated before, Verstappen's camp is not crazy and is examining all possible options, but for now, the Dutchman wants to stay with Red Bull and so there is certainly no deal (yet) with Mercedes.

Sky Italia also reports that Verstappen would then take the place of George Russell. According to the Italian medium, the Austrian racing team is then in line to offer the Briton a contract. According to GPblog this is also not correct.

Last weekend in Austria, our website has understood that Russell and Christian Horner had a preliminary talk quite some time ago, but it only remained at that.