Verstappen has opened doors for a future move to Ferrari
The Dutchman confirmed in July that he will remain with Red Bull next year
Currently, Verstappen is third in the drivers' standings
Despite confirming his Red Bull seat for 2026, Max Verstappen is open to the prospect of driving for Ferrari in the future.
Verstappen's future with Red Bull was called into question earlier this year, with McLaren duo Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris surging clear in the drivers' championship standings.
The four-time world champion was strongly linked with a move to Mercedes, who lost Hamilton to Ferrari at the start of this season.
The Dutchman confirmed in July that he will remain with Red Bull next year, and his contract with the team is not due to expire until 2028, though it does reportedly contain clauses allowing him to depart at an earlier date.
Ahead of this weekend's Italian Grand Prix, Verstappen hinted he would like to be supported by the Tifosi at Ferrari's home race at Monza.
"They have two drivers contracted for next year, so there is no discussion anyway. Now, is there a chance? Yes, there are a lot of chances in life for any kind of decision," he said.
"Of course, at the moment that is not on the horizon, but who knows? I don't even know how long I'll be driving in Formula One, so there are still a lot of unknowns for me.
"It's always very difficult to know what is going to happen, right?"
Verstappen is third in the drivers' standings, 70 points behind Norris and a huge 104 adrift of championship frontrunner Piastri.
He has not achieved back-to-back podium finishes this season, though he has the chance to do so on Sunday after finishing second at the Dutch Grand Prix last week.
Verstappen has only won the Italian Grand Prix twice in 10 attempts, in 2023 and 2024. Along with the US Grand Prix, it is also the race in which he has appeared the most times without ever achieving a pole position (10 attempts).
Meanwhile, Verstappen's old rival Hamilton is sixth in the drivers' standings, having failed to record a single podium finish since his move to Ferrari.
But Verstappen believes it was always going to be difficult for the seven-time champion to replicate his success with Mercedes, saying: "I cannot look into how he was operating at Mercedes, how he feels personally, what is going on also in the team right now.
"I don't have any information on that. The thing is, he joined a team that already has a very strong driver with Charles [Leclerc], so it's never going to be easy to immediately go in there and start beating your team-mate who is well integrated and knows the team very well.
"But these cars can be quite complicated at times to fully understand why you're quick or not, basically."
