A big bang will suffice. Max Verstappen will not be part of the chain reaction caused by the signing of Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes) for Ferrari from 2025. The Dutchman is banking on Red Bull in the future and his presence at the press conference on Thursday at the Red Bull Ring, site of the Austrian Grand Prix, was the perfect place to remind us of this.
“I’ve said it before, but the team is working and focusing also on next year to try to be competitive again.said the world number 1, winner of seven of the first ten events of the 2024 season. I don’t think that’s how Formula 1 works, where all of a sudden you can say: ‘Goodbye guys’. That’s not how it works. I have a long contract with the team, I’m very happy with where I am.”
“As I said before, we are already focusing on next year with things that we can implement on the car, so I think that should say enough about where I will drive the year next”he added.
Armed peace at Red Bull
On February 1, the very day Lewis Hamilton signed for the Scuderia, a Red Bull Racing employee reported to HR a “inappropriate behavior” of the team director, Christian Horner, an affair made public four days later by the Dutch daily The TelegraphThe Austrian team was then divided into two camps in the media storm: the pro-Horner, including the Thai majority shareholder of the energy drink, and the anti, embodied by Helmut Marko, special advisor to the CEO of Red Bull, and Jos Verstappen.
Max Verstappen with Lando Norris and Lewis Hamilton
Credit: Getty Images
Following the incendiary statements made by the father and mentor of the triple world champion, on the impossibility of keeping Christian Horner at the head of the team, Toto Wolff, director of Mercedes Motorsport, had approached the Verstappens with the aim of welcoming the prodigy from 2025.
The real question is 2026
Since then, things have calmed down: Helmut Marko and Christian Horner have declared a truce in their confrontation, and Max Verstappen has had some guarantees of tranquility such as the two-year extension of his undisturbed teammate, Sergio Pérez.
The Batavian would in fact have a firm contract until 2026, with two years as an option, and the competitiveness of the engine made in Milton Keynes (badged Ford) meeting the new regulations, remains the only real question that “Super Max” openly asks. ” about his future.
“Perez is not capable of replacing Verstappen”
Toto Wolff, who reportedly offered a 150 million contract to Max Verstappen, will hope until the last moment for an improbable turnaround. He has indicated that he is giving himself until November to decide on the identity of George Russell’s future teammate. Above all, to better offer media peace to Kimi Andrea Antonelli, his 17-year-old nugget, currently in Formula 2 and seen as a future great for the Greys.
