David Coulthard believes Max Verstappen would be a better fit at Ferrari than Mercedes, with the Red Bull Formula 1 driver’s future a topic of continued discussion.

Verstappen has made repeated noises about his F1 future this term, and said in Miami that he is “taking my time” before making a decision.

His frustrations have come not only from a difficult start to the season for Red Bull, but also through a dislike of the new regulations, which led to racing action that he compared to video game “Mario Kart”.

The Dutchman has long been admired by Mercedes, with team principal Toto Wolff conceding it was a ‘mistake’ to publicly court Verstappen last term.

But former F1 driver David Coulthard does not believe Mercedes would be the best fit for Verstappen.

Speaking on the Up to Speed podcast, Coulthard said: “I think that Max actually is a shoe-in fit better to the Ferrari world than the Mercedes world.

“I know they have this good relationship, and I know that he’s racing a Mercedes in the GT3 events that he does, but in actual freedom to be Max, I think it would be a more comfortable fit at Ferrari.

“You just turn up, drive quickly, presumably win races, and head home.”

Pressure on Red Bull to retain Verstappen

Despite his seemingly constant feeding of speculation that he could be set to part ways with Red Bull, Verstappen has a history of stating his desire to remain with Red Bull for the duration of his career.

With this in mind, pundit and former driver Naomi Schiff added: “I think if things had carried on as they were looking like at the beginning of the season, maybe he would have been starting to think ‘How can we make this work’ or ‘Can we make this work’, because we know that they’ve been having conversations in the background.

“But things are looking on the up, and I know that Max has said on a number of occasions that if things are going well at Red Bull, he doesn’t have any desire to leave, so I think the pressure is more on Red Bull to make sure that they do deliver and give him a car that he can win with so that he stays to the end of his contract.”