Jos Verstappen has ruled out the possibility of his son Max teaming up with Lewis Hamilton as “not a good idea”.
Right now the pair are widely considered as the top two drivers on the grid but there was a time last year when it was rumoured the Dutchman was in talks over a Mercedes move.
The story was that Max had an exit clause in his Red Bull deal which was linked to either a race win by a certain point of the season or his final championship position.
“It had to do with position [in the World Championship],” Verstappen Sr. was quoted as telling GP Racing magazine. “but then I must say Max always wanted to stay at Red Bull.
“He has a very good feeling with the team. I think this is the most important thing.
“Max also has the last word on decisions, but he feels very comfortable with Red Bull – he’s settling in very well.”
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That trust and confidence in Red Bull also led to a surprisingly early announcement of a new three-year deal at the team in January, with many expecting him to take his time.
However, his father says they did evaluate the alternatives before coming to that call.
“During the end of the year we were discussing the options,” he said. “You want to be in a top team, we were not thinking about the others.
“Maybe there were some options in another team but I think the time is not there yet.
“It doesn’t say if you go to another team that you’re going to win because maybe Red Bull is gonna create something very special.
“The position Max has in the team where he is now, to create that somewhere else I think takes a couple of years,” Jos added.
“Max wants to show them that he can do it with Red Bull and Honda.”
As a result of the contract extension, it seems a Hamilton/Verstappen pairing will now never happen in F1, but according to the former driver, it was never a realistic prospect.
“Financially, it will be very difficult,” he said. “The outside world would have loved that, but… probably it is not a good idea.”
