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“I want to stay with them for the rest of my life. I hope they let me.”
That was Max Verstappen, speaking about his Red Bull team, immediately after winning the Formula 1 world championship last December.
A little under three months on, and he would appear to be a good way towards getting what he wanted – with a report in the Netherlands suggesting he had agreed a deal worth up to €50million a year, which Red Bull later announced would run until 2028.
But what would such a deal mean for Verstappen and Red Bull, and what are the wider implications for F1 and the driver market? Our writers have their say.
LAYS DOWN CHALLENGE TO REST OF F1
Mark Hughes
This deal potentially sets Verstappen and Red Bull up as the force the others will have to measure up to for years to come, the new Hamilton/Mercedes or Schumacher/Ferrari.
It finally fully aligns Red Bull and Verstappen for the long-term whereas previously there were always feasible loopholes: get out clauses for non-factory engines, a mega-bucks Ferrari or Mercedes offer which could trigger that clause. Red Bull now has its power unit destiny in its own hands while Mercedes and Ferrari have seemingly already instigated their own long-term succession plans with George Russell and Charles Leclerc respectively.
Verstappen is central to Red Bull; it all revolves around him at an operational and support level, he’s very happy in that role and that brings its own spiralling benefits. Before this deal, there was always the possibility that his Red Bull success would be the equivalent of Schumacher’s at Benetton or Hamilton’s at McLaren – impressive but less than the entirely different level of success the driver was capable of if everything was in full alignment.
This deal lays down that challenge to the rest of F1. It effectively says, ‘you ain’t seen nothing yet’.
VERSTAPPEN’S RIGHT TO CAPITALISE ON SKY-HIGH VALUE
Scott Mitchell
Red Bull has traditionally opted for highly incentivised contracts with rewarding bonuses on top of the base salary. Verstappen would have had a bumper 2021 given his success: 10 wins, 10 poles positions, 18 podiums and the title.
Wanting to bump up the numbers is understandable though and there’s no doubt Verstappen’s in the strongest possible position to have done that.
It makes sense for Max to capitalise on his value being sky-high. He’s the world champion and Red Bull adores him. So this was a great chance to bank a mega deal at a place he’s very, very happy.
There’s a lot of trust and affection in that relationship, which is why this deal follows Verstappen’s public declaration amid the emotion of his last-gasp title win in Abu Dhabi that he loves the team and wants stay there ‘forever’.
NO MEANINGFUL CHANGE TO DRIVER MARKET
Edd Straw
It’s a logical move for Max Verstappen and Red Bull to extend their deal with a contract that doubtless recognises his status as a world champion. But it doesn’t change the driver market landscape in any meaningful way.
For as long as the team is performing well and Verstappen is delivering it was unlikely there would be any change. And should either slump in form, doubtless there are means for a parting of the ways even in this new deal.
Red Bull is built around Verstappen, which works well for both. Verstappen is one of F1’s great drivers and will continue to be so beyond the terms of this deal.
It also reflects the change in F1’s financial landscape. With the cost cap in place but drivers not included, teams that can afford it must invest more in what is perhaps the one remaining unrestricted performance differentiator – the driver.
By valuing Verstappen properly, assuming it continues to produce front running machinery, Red Bull ensures there’s no reason for him to consider a move elsewhere.
LATEST EPISODE IN RED BULL-MERCEDES TIT-FOR-TAT
Jack Benyon
I’m not suggesting Red Bull has re-signed Max Verstappen to play mind games with Mercedes, but it’s certainly an added bonus for the team.
The driver market discussion has primarily been dominated in recent years by whether Hamilton will retire and who might back him up. Here, Red Bull is taking control of the narrative by ensuring the pressure is on Hamilton now, and whoever comes after him in the future.
What’s more scary for Mercedes than having to fight Verstappen every year? To know that Hamilton is on the way out and there’s no guarantee a replacement can reach the same level, while Verstappen keeps giving it a pummelling each year.
We’ve seen each team will use absolutely any opportunity to engage in verbal warfare to destabilise and unsettle one another. I’m sure this is no different.
THERE WILL STILL BE WAYS OUT
Glenn Freeman
Red Bull’s first world champion since Sebastian Vettel thoroughly deserves a new contract that reflects that achievement and his value to Red Bull now and in the years to come.
But let’s not pretend this means Verstappen is locked into Red Bull even if the team’s competitiveness drifts. Contracts have break clauses – as we saw with Vettel and Red Bull in 2014 – and if Verstappen sees a much better chance to rack up more wins and titles elsewhere, he’ll have an exit strategy.
F1 teams are so clinical now that the idea of Red Bull’s performances dropping off a cliff and it suddenly running around in the lower midfield seems seriously unlikely. But if F1 achieves its aim of enabling more teams to compete at the very front, it’s plausible that the post-2014 era of the same teams always winning could get shaken up.
Prior to 2021, Verstappen played the role of Mercedes hassler superbly, snapping at the dominant team’s heels and stealing victories where he could. Now he’s tasted fighting for a championship – and winning it – he won’t settle for going back to that.
MIND-BLOWING REWARD IS JUSTIFIED
Gary Anderson
If the numbers are correct, that’s an inflation-busting pay rise but in the circumstances it’s totally justified. Over the last six years with Red Bull, Verstappen has had the upper hand on any team-mate thrown at him, he has just won the drivers’ world championship, and he plenty of years left in his career to win it a few more times.
If Red Bull can supply him the tools, he can do the job. He fits in with the image of the team and has been brought through the Red Bull F1 school of motoring by Helmut Marko and Franz Tost, so he is a product of its operation as opposed to Red Bull buying someone in from another team just because they are quick.
No matter how you look at to, the size of the financial rewards are mind blowing. That’s why I keep harping on about the drivers wage becoming part of the budget cap.
I’m sure some of it will be driver performance related and there will also be team performance clauses built in, but at least by signing up now other big teams that might want to poach him have been scuppered. For now, anyway.
EVERYONE’S IN THEIR RIGHT PLACE, BUT…
Matt Beer
Apologies to Matt Bishop, now of Aston Martin, if I’ve completely misremembered this. But it’s lodged in my head that around 2003, he made a reference in an F1 Racing magazine column to all the rising stars of the new generation being in exactly the right team for them: Fernando Alonso at Renault, Juan Pablo Montoya at Williams and Kimi Raikkonen at McLaren.
His argument made complete sense. Yet within months, the first of those relationships was being broken and soon they all would – though Alonso’s back with ‘Renault’ nearly two decades later!
Verstappen at Red Bull, Charles Leclerc at Ferrari, Lewis Hamilton/George Russell at Mercedes, Lando Norris at McLaren. All those relationships feel like the right and natural combination of driver and environment.
And yet I can’t help thinking back to the ‘Class of 2001’ and everything that unfolded. It’s incredibly rare for a sporting great to stay put at one team for a whole career, and if one domino falls the repercussions may surely topple them all as teams move to fill gaps.
That said, given that all Alonso, Montoya and Raikkonen’s mid-2000s career shuffles can ultimately be traced back to Ron Dennis, maybe now he’s not in F1 everyone will happy enough staying put at the teams that suit each of them!
