Verstappen would have been more likely to leave F1 than change teams

ZANDVOORT, Netherlands, Aug 20 : Max Verstappen said he hoped to see out his Formula One career at Red Bull after agreeing a contract extension to 2030 and admitted on Thursday that he would have been more likely to leave the sport than join another team.The four-times champion had been linked in media speculation to Mercedes and McLaren but he played that down after the new deal was announced at his home Dutch Grand Prix."I think I was closer to retiring than changing teams," the 28-year-old told reporters.Verstappen is no fan of the sport's new engine era and how the cars have to be driven, with their greater electric component, and made clear early in the season that he was weighing up his options. He said he told team principal Laurent Mekies early in the campaign not to discuss the fu