Toto Wolff awaits Max
Max Verstappen at the beginning of 2022 he made official a long-term renewal with Red Bull until 2028, the best way to celebrate the world title won a few months earlier after a brutal and no-holds-barred duel with Lewis Hamilton and Mercedes. Verstappen and Red Bull could not have imagined that after some stuttering at the beginning of 2022, the two-year period 2022-2023 would turn out to be so rich for the Milton Keynes team and for the Dutch driver, who thanks to the goodness of the RB18 and RB19 has easily exceeded the 50 victories mark in F1 (now he is at 61 thanks to the 7 achieved with the RB20 in this 2024).
After a great start to the season, however, the RB20 has stalled due to ineffective developments. Competition has grown, McLaren in particular, and Verstappen has not climbed to the top step of the podium for six races, with the prospect of having very little chance of doing so in Baku and Singapore. This situation combined with the regulation change planned for 2026 has fueled rumours of Verstappen’s possible escape from Red Bull. Toto Wolff hoped to snatch Verstappen from Red Bull this yearbut the Mercedes team principal had to give up in the face of the fact that the Dutchman could not free himself already this season.
In 2025, however, performance clauses could free Verstappen. Jos Verstappen and Raymond Vermeulen (Verstappen’s manager) have in fact obtained important guarantees from Red Bull when the renewal until 2028 was defined. According to what was reported by the Swiss newspaper Blick in an article by the well-informed journalist Roger Benoit, in fact, Verstappen will be able to free himself from his contract with Red Bull in 2025 if he is not in the top three of the drivers’ standings after three or five races.
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