PF1 verdict: Max Verstappen has committed to Red Bull, rightly or wrongly

Max Verstappen has not only committed to Red Bull for F1 2027, putting an end to rumours that he could leave the team, but he’s extended through to 2030, meaning by the time his contract ends, he will have been with Red Bull for 15 years.

Here’s what our writers have to say about his decision…

The great, the good, and the ugly

By Michelle Foster

First and foremost, Red Bull can breathe a sigh of relief. Max Verstappen is without a doubt one of the best drivers to have ever driven a Formula 1 car.

It has been said time and time again by former drivers, pundits, and even those on the track looking to beat him, that he gets more lap time out of that Red Bull F1 car than it has in it. He could drive the wheels off… well that applies to Max.

It’s great news for Red Bull when it comes to results and potential championship titles. It’s even better news on the PR front for Red Bull and its new power unit as the team has held onto the four-time world champion despite interest from Mercedes and McLaren.

The good, that’s on Max’s side of the equation. He knows Red Bull; it is his second family. He has seen how the team has fought alongside him to win world titles, and more recently how Red Bull has fought to rebound.

He knows the team’s ability to develop the car, as Red Bull demonstrated last year, which put him in the unimaginable position nine races after the Dutch Grand Prix, where he was 104 points away from the world title, to take the fight for a fifth crown to the final race.

It’s a good call for Max because he is No.1 at Red Bull. He’s the one who has won races and world titles. If he moved to McLaren, he’d have to challenge Lando Norris for supremacy. If he moved to Mercedes, he’d be up against Kimi Antonelli. At Red Bull, he is No.1. No question. No doubt.

As for the ugly, that’s for Isack Hadjar, who, should he remain at Red Bull into 2027 and beyond, will be measured against the best on the grid in a team designed around Verstappen.

Semantics and legacy

By Mat Coch

Max Verstappen has not signed on for another four years at Red Bull. He has signed on for two more. He already had a contract through until 2028, so a new deal to 2030 presumably means it supplants what was in place.

Of course, we don’t know specifics of what has changed but it’s reasonable to suggest there have been a couple of elements central to discussions. We know there were conversations about that element, but then Max also clarified that the clause remains when he spoke in the FIA presser on Thursday. So he’s given no ground, and probably taken a reasonable pay bump at the same time. It’s a good deal for the Dutchman, while Red Bull gets some certainty (at least for next year).

But really, the question is whether sticking in Milton Keynes is the best move when there is clear market interest in his services.

In many respects, it’s better the devil you know. Red Bull doesn’t tend to muck around and has been a consistent front runner, if not race winner, for getting on towards two decades. Yes, the team is in a transitional phase, but so was McLaren very recently, and arguably Mercedes went through this process too around the time James Vowles found his way to Williams. Experienced staff leaving is never great, but it is inevitable.

And what were Verstappen’s realistic options? Ferrari’s competitive level swings wildly and, while fast and a race winning operation, it hasn’t won a championship in… well, a long time. Mercedes looks locked in with Verstappen’s heir-apparent meaning any driver joining Brackley will have to content with a team that will progressively shape itself around Kimi Antonelli. And besides, does Toto Wolff want another 2016? More the point, does he need Verstappen given Antonelli’s rise? The Dutchman’s value there is far less than perhaps it once was.

That leaves McLaren. A world championship winner just last year, it’s also a customer team. As far as technical packages go, when you really boil it down, it is a lesser package than what Red Bull has. Is a customer entity the best bet for the medium future? McLaren is a phenomenal team, but at this point Verstappen realistically needs to make the percentage play, and that makes Red Bull perhaps his best bet given it does everything in house.

Putting results to the side, there’s also an element of legacy. Max Verstappen is one of the greatest drivers F1 has ever seen, that is an established fact, but how might his reputation grow further if he’s able to lead a new-look Red Bull to titles in years to come? Doesn’t that elevate him just a little further than jumping on whatever wagon looks fastest?

Loyalty to ‘second family’, or nowhere else to reasonably go?

By Henry Valantine

There can be no denying the factor of Red Bull having been Max Verstappen’s way into Formula 1, having been the founding bedrock of a career which will go down as one of the greats, no matter what happens from here.

The key architects behind that have now left, and a word should go here to Laurent Mekies and the senior staff at Red Bull who either convinced him to stay, or helped show him the path they are on is a promising enough one to remain at the front.

Adaptation is something Verstappen hasn’t had to do an awful lot of behind the scenes, at least not with his major players. That’s already started to happen with Christian Horner and Helmut Marko having departed, with GianPiero Lambiase also set to head out by the 2028 season.

It will be a new relationship Verstappen has with his team from here, or at least with the new people within it, but he’s experienced and talented enough to make it work to his advantage.

As for other options, though, they really were not that plentiful. While talks with McLaren are understood to have taken place, they have two drivers themselves under hefty contracts, with Oscar Piastri signed until at least 2028 and Lando Norris potentially longer than that, having alluded to a “good few years” on his deal yet.

At Mercedes, the emergence of Kimi Antonelli and George Russell’s security means no room in the inn there, likewise with Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton under contract at Ferrari so, despite his status within the sport, it would have had to have been an enormous gamble further down the field, a new team paying out a significant sum to an existing driver, or staying where he knows he can be at least partially competitive.

It’s worth noting that Verstappen was already under contract until 2028, so it’s an impressive feat by Red Bull to secure Verstappen’s services for even longer – shutting up questions about his future for the medium term.

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