Key Max Verstappen update as Lewis Hamilton prediction made – F1 news roundup

Max Verstappen and a Mercedes logo

An update on Max Verstappen’s Red Bull future and a prediction about what Lewis Hamilton and Adrian Newey could achieve together at Ferrari lead Wednesday’s fast-paced F1 news roundup.

Buckle up tight, it’s a wild ride at breakneck speed…

F1 news: Max Verstappen, Lewis Hamilton and more

Max Verstappen stuck ‘in a corner’ over F1 2025 negotiations – report

Max Verstappen is reportedly stuck “in a corner” amid rumours of a move to Mercedes for F1 2025, with any commitment to Red Bull likely to signal the green light for a cunning Christian Horner power grab.

Despite holding a contract until the end of 2028, Verstappen’s Red Bull future has been plunged into uncertainty in light of the team’s recent off-track dramas.

A Mercedes seat may not be attractive to him, at least until F1’s new rules are introduced in 2026, but any commitment to Red Bull right now brings the risk of Horner springing his plan into action.

‘Second Schumacher era’ predicted for Lewis Hamilton at Ferrari

Lewis Hamilton will replicate Michael Schumacher’s success at Ferrari if the Scuderia can lure F1 design legend Adrian Newey from Red Bull.

That is the stunning prediction made by former Ferrari driver Gerhard Berger, who believes the signing of Newey would open the door for a new era of Ferrari dominance.

Verstappen is not the only major Red Bull figure said to be considering his future at the moment, with reports claiming Newey has offers on the table from both Aston Martin and Ferrari, who memorably came close to signing the Red Bull tech guru back in 2014.

Mercedes 2025 plans already decided as Max Verstappen ghosts linger?

Toto Wolff has already decided that Andrea Kimi Antonelli will replace Hamilton in 2025, so the Mercedes boss can escape the Verstappen-shaped ghosts of his past.

That is the claim of F1 TV presenter Will Buxton, who is certain that Wolff now intends to put Antonelli in the Mercedes seat soon to be vacated by Hamilton.

Mercedes were famously beaten to the signing of Verstappen a decade ago by Red Bull, who offered a teenage Max what Merc could not – an F1 race seat for the 2015 season.

Having been stung once, Buxton reckons Wolff will refuse to be stung again by ensuring another potentially generational talent doesn’t slip through Mercedes’ fingers.

Charles Leclerc to ‘suck up’ Lewis Hamilton priority at Ferrari?

Buxton has also been debating how Hamilton’s partnership with Charles Leclerc might transpire when the pair become team-mates at Ferrari in 2025.

The F1 TV presenter reckons Ferrari have two options: either promise absolute parity between them at all times, or tell Leclerc that Hamilton will be the number one and that he must “just have to suck this up.”

Oh, to be a fly on the wall when Fred Vasseur delivers that line…

Guenther Steiner plotting big F1 comeback?

Former Haas team principal Guenther Steiner has been linked with a potential return to F1, this time as a team owner in his own right.

Steiner has remained on F1’s fringes since leaving Haas at the end of last year, with a report in Japan claiming he is targeting RB, Red Bull’s junior team, having found an investor ready and willing to enter F1.

Sources with close links to the situation have indicated to PlanetF1.com that Steiner has not had any discussions with RB about a possible sale, despite Red Bull advisor Helmut Marko recently revealing there is plenty of interest in another party buying the Faenza-based squad.