Max Verstappen's $55 million-a-year contract may not be worth the paper it's written on, as a dismal start to the season has triggered the exit clauses buried in his deal and handed the four-time world champion a way out of Red Bull. His frustration is no longer hidden: after being thrown off the track twice — first at Silverstone, then at the Red Bull Ring — by rear-wing failures, he didn't mince words, calling the car beneath him "super dangerous." Behind the scenes the tension is boiling over, with big names like Adrian Newey and Jonathan Wheatley already gone and the champion refusing to give even a verbal promise that he'll stay beyond 2026. The Red Bull engine is still reckoned to be the best on the grid, yet Verstappen has turned on the new machinery, dismissing it as "anti-racing." So where would he go? Mercedes is shut, with Kimi Antonelli's seat locked down, and Aston Martin remain long shots, leaving McLaren as the only realistic option — and though boss Zak Brown insists his drivers have "their names engraved on their race seat," the quiet talks carry on. Loyalty is cracking, and with a decisive October deadline bearing down, the Red Bull empire is beginning to fall apart from the inside.