Max Verstappen played it cool as speculation swirled around his Formula One future on Thursday, with Red Bull's four-time world champion saying it was not on his mind and that he was "very relaxed."
Red Bull's motorsport consultant Helmut Marko said after last Sunday's Bahrain Grand Prix that the team was concerned the Dutch driver might leave at the end of the season.
Verstappen, who won the Japanese Grand Prix on April 6, finished sixth in Bahrain last week, with McLaren's Oscar Piastri winning from pole position.
"I don’t know," Verstappen said when asked by an Italian reporter ahead of the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix why Ferrari was not being mentioned as a possible destination as well as Mercedes and Aston Martin.
"I mean, honestly, a lot of people are talking about it, except me.
"I just want to focus on my car, work with the people in the team. That’s the only thing that I’m thinking about in Formula One at the moment. I’m very relaxed."
Verstappen, who has a contract that runs until 2028 with exit clauses, led the championship for more than two years — since May 2022 — until McLaren's Lando Norris won the season-opener in Australia.
The Red Bull driver is still only eight points adrift of Norris, and third overall in the standings, but McLaren has won three of the season's four races.
"I just keep working, keep trying to improve the car," Verstappen said. "Naturally, Bahrain wasn't a great weekend for us. I think we were all pretty disappointed with that.
"We just keep on trying to improve the car, come up with new ideas to try on the car. The competition is tough. That’s how I go about my weeks, just trying to improve the situation."
The Dutch driver was also asked about his manager Raymond Vermeulen reportedly shouting at Marko after the race in Bahrain.
"They were having just a conversation about everything, which I think is allowed," the champion said.
"People can always see it in their own way, how people are discussing things. But I think we were all left frustrated with the result and, of course, the things that went wrong in the race.
"I think that's where my manager Raymond and Helmut spoke about it, and even (team boss) Christian (Horner) came along as well. So they all had a conversation. I think that should be allowed. We all care at the end of the day.
"We care about the team, we care about the people, we care about results. I think that's quite normal."
With your current subscription plan you can comment on stories. However, before writing your first comment, please create a display name in the Profile section of your subscriber account page.