Max Verstappen has signed a new contract that ties him to the Red Bull Racing team until the end of 2030. Verstappen had to state that Red Bull is the best place for him to achieve success in F1. The Dutchman’s decision will have a very significant impact on the transfer market in Formula 1 in the coming years.
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After two years of regular rumors suggesting that Max Verstappen might shorten his contract with Red Bull (which always intensified during the summer) to move to another team or leave F1 altogether, something completely opposite happened. The team announced in a statement that Max Verstappen had signed a new contract until the end of the 2030 season. Everything was handled perfectly, as the announcement appeared just before the start of the Dutch GP weekend, where the topic of Verstappen’s future would definitely have been regularly discussed. This way, they cut off all the rumors. Max Verstappen had a contract with Red Bull until the end of 2028, so formally he extended it by two years. In my opinion, however, this is a new contract covering the 2027 – 2030 seasons. This way, Verstappen will get a raise every year (he will probably return to the position of the highest-paid driver in F1), and at the same time, the issue of options allowing contract termination will be sorted out. Surely, such options exist in the new contract, as this is how it is done in F1, but their conditions may have been changed. Otherwise, the new contract would be unnecessary from the perspective of both the driver and the team.
Max Verstappen has committed to Red Bull until the end of 2030, which is the end of the current technical regulations. The Dutchman strongly criticized the new cars and regulations at the beginning of this year, but in recent weeks this criticism from him has quieted down. If he plans to race for four more seasons in F1 with such engines and cars, he must have changed his opinion about them. Personally, hearing his criticism at the start of the season, I thought he would take a break from F1 for a year or two to compete in other series and then return to F1 when the regulations mature and the cars’ performance improves. It is clear that he changed his mind on this or decided that F1 is more important to him than competing in other series. I expect Red Bull will continue to allow him guest starts in other racing series; maybe he will also race in Le Mans 24 with Ford?
It is no secret that Max Verstappen’s representatives were looking for other places in Formula 1. Contacts with Mercedes have been known for some time, and in recent weeks talks with McLaren were held, confirmed by Zak Brown. The Dutchman’s manager was exploring all possible options. They decided to stay with the well-known Red Bull for the coming years, so they must have concluded that this is the best place for him to succeed. Red Bull is still a very good team; they have the best combustion engine, and during this season they have significantly improved the car. There is hope that in a year or two Verstappen will be able to fight for the world championship again. Most importantly, everything in this team revolves around Verstappen; he is number one. Whatever he wants will be done. In other top teams, the situation would be different; he could not count on such a strong position because in Mercedes and McLaren drivers get equal chances. Personally, I am disappointed that Verstappen will not test his strength in another team against a strong driver who was previously associated with that team. By staying in the Red Bull environment, it is known from the start that he is number one.
Red Bull’s success and the problem of their drivers
Signing this contract is a great success for the entire Red Bull corporation and the new F1 team management. Verstappen is the face of the entire Red Bull project in F1; he is not only a guarantee of good sporting results but also the foundation of their entire marketing. If he decided to leave, it would be a huge blow to them because they would not have anyone to replace him – the rest of the top drivers are tied to other teams. Over the past years, most key employees responsible for great successes and championship titles have left Red Bull. This is not the end; Gianpiero Lambiase has already joined McLaren and will move there no later than 2028. In recent weeks, they have managed to stop this outflow by retaining certain engineers who wanted to leave, started making transfers (e.g., Gwen Lagrue from Mercedes), and kept their most important driver. The situation around Red Bull is starting to look optimistic again. This is not a team on a downward trajectory.
The fact that Max Verstappen extended his contract for four more seasons is the worst news for other drivers in the Red Bull camp. If any of them hoped to soon become the leader of this team, they can forget about it. Only the role of driver number two in Red Bull remains available, currently filled by Isack Hadjar. The Frenchman should stay for another season. Promotion options for young drivers from Racing Bulls to the main team have been greatly limited for the coming years.
Record-length driver-team partnership in Formula 1
At the time of signing the contract, Max Verstappen is 28 years old (he will turn 29 in September). In 2030, he will be 33. He has been associated with Red Bull since autumn 2014 when he joined their junior program. In 2015, he debuted in F1 with Toro Rosso, and during the 2016 season, he moved to Red Bull. Verstappen has started in 244 F1 races so far, and if he fulfills the contract until the end of 2030, he will have over 350 starts, including nearly 330 with one team. The Dutchman will spend 15 seasons with Red Bull. This will be by far the longest driver-team partnership in F1 history. He would have set new records if he had fulfilled the previous contract valid until the end of 2028. Extending it by two years means the records will be even more impressive. Currently, the record partnership in F1 history was Lewis Hamilton’s with Mercedes – 12 seasons and 246 races.
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If Verstappen completes his entire contract and the number of races in the coming seasons is 24, by the end of 2030 he will be in third place in the ranking of the number of races in an F1 career. Ahead of him will be only Fernando Alonso and Lewis Hamilton. The Dutchman will surpass Kimi Raikkonen.
It is worth adding at the end that in F1 we currently have unprecedentedly long partnerships. Young drivers move very quickly from junior programs to the best teams and spend many years there. Verstappen’s records are extremely impressive, but not far behind him is Charles Leclerc, who recently signed an equally long contract with Ferrari, as well as Lando Norris with McLaren.
Verstappen’s move closes the transfer rumor season
Verstappen’s long-term contract with Red Bull practically closes transfer rumors not only from the perspective of the 2027 season (top spots are already taken) but also for the 2028 season, where potentially free spots will be available. We should expect stability; most top drivers will extend their contracts. Verstappen was linked with many teams; some bosses were waiting for his move because it could have triggered a domino effect of changes in several teams. Now that the Dutchman has decided to stay longer in F1, most possible transfers are closed.
I expect the Mercedes lineup may remain unchanged for a longer time. There will be no changes in Ferrari until Lewis Hamilton retires (according to rumors, a new contract announcement with Ferrari is imminent), and his natural successor is Oliver Bearman. At McLaren, Lando Norris’s position seems secure; we will see if Oscar Piastri also decides to stay longer. It seems that the only noteworthy spot for a top driver in the near future will be the one vacated by Fernando Alonso at Aston Martin. Apart from that, unfortunately, I predict stability in transfer matters at the F1 top level in the near future.
The article where you can find full F1 team lineups for the 2027 season along with the contract lengths of individual drivers can be found by clicking this link.
