Max Verstappen on new Red Bull deal: I was 'closer to retiring than changing teams' - ESPN

After signing a new deal to remain at Red Bull until the end of 2030, Max Verstappen has said he never felt the desire to switch teams and revealed he was closer to leaving the sport entirely than signing for a rival.

The new contract, which adds two more years to his previous deal, was announced ahead of this weekend's Dutch Grand Prix at Zandvoort.

It follows more than a year of speculation about Verstappen's future, including reports linking him to Mercedes last year and McLaren this season.

It also comes in a season in which he threatened to quit F1 altogether over his dislike of the sport's new power unit regulations, which put added emphasis on managing battery power instead of driving to the car's limit.

Speaking in a hospitality unit packed with journalists in Zandvoort, Verstappen said he felt no desire to leave Red Bull, which gave him his F1 break racing for Toro Rosso back in 2015.

«I never felt that desire or need also to change [to another team] to try and win somewhere else,» he said. «If I feel well within the team here, why should I?

»Because I know that they do everything for me, and they know that I do everything for them once I'm on the track and trying to get the results."

Asked if he had spoken to other teams, Verstappen joked: «I think I was closer to retiring than changing teams.»

Conversations with the sport's rule makers were also crucial to Verstappen's decision.

At the start of the season, the four-time world champion described F1's new rules as «anti-racing» and by the third round in Japan said he was considering quitting the sport at the end of the year.

F1 and the FIA has put in place changes to address some of the limitations of the rules over the next two years, with a simpler V8 engine