Red Bull's public position is that Max Verstappen is staying. Privately, the reported contingency plans tell you the team is at least thinking about a world without him.
Two names dominate that speculation. The first is Carlos Sainz, whose Williams move has him back in a stable environment and who knows the demands of a front-running team better than most on the grid. The second is Arvid Lindblad, the Racing Bulls driver from Red Bull's own junior pipeline, whose promotion would follow the template the organisation has always preferred: back your own.
Both are rumors, not plans on paper, and both only matter if Verstappen's exit clause actually activates after Hungary. But they frame Red Bull's dilemma neatly. Sign an experienced hand like Sainz and you steady the ship; promote Lindblad and you gamble on youth to rebuild around. Either way, the fact that these conversations are being had at all underlines how seriously the paddock is taking the possibility that the four-time champion could be gone.