Max Verstappen isn’t heading to Mercedes subsequent season.
The three-time defending Formulation 1 champion has a contract via 2028 with Pink Bull Racing and is the prohibitive favourite to win a fourth straight title in 2024. Nonetheless, he’s been talked about as a doable candidate to exchange Lewis Hamilton at Mercedes subsequent season after Hamilton introduced earlier this yr that he was heading to Ferrari in 2025.
On Thursday in Austria, Verstappen made it clear that he can be again at Pink Bull in 2025.
“I don’t suppose that’s how Formulation 1 works the place all of a sudden you possibly can say, ‘Effectively bye guys,’” Verstappen stated at a information convention (through F1). “I’ve a protracted contract with the workforce and I’m very pleased with the place I’m at and, like I stated earlier than, we’re focusing already on subsequent yr with issues we are able to implement on the automotive so I suppose that ought to say sufficient of the place I’m driving subsequent yr.”
Questions had been raised about Verstappen’s Pink Bull future regardless of the long-term contract because the workforce had a tumultuous begin to 2024. A Pink Bull worker accused workforce principal Christian Horner of harassment, however the workforce in the end cleared Horner of wrongdoing. The controversy allegedly triggered pressure throughout the workforce and has been talked about as a cause for the departure of aerodynamicist Adrian Newey.
With Verstappen now publicly out of the image for Mercedes in 2025, it appears extremely possible that the workforce will promote junior driver Kimi Antonelli to exchange Hamilton subsequent season. Antonelli, who turns 18 in August, may even make a number of appearances for Williams on the finish of the season if Mercedes desires to get him some race expertise in an F1 automotive.
Antonelli has appeared just like the doubtless choice as Hamilton’s substitute in latest weeks as Verstappen was a long-shot risk to exchange the seven-time world champion.
Pink Bull has been the dominant workforce in F1 over the previous two seasons as Verstappen had one of the best season in F1 historical past in 2023 with 575 factors and 19 wins over 22 races. And although he leads the factors standings by 69 factors via 10 races this season and has seven wins, the remainder of the sphere appears a lot nearer to Verstappen than it was in 2023.
Lando Norris’ common end of three.5 is simply 0.1 behind Verstappen regardless that Norris has only one win. Ferrari drivers Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz have one win every after Sainz was the one non-Pink Bull driver to win a race a season in the past.
Mercedes’ Hamilton and George Russell additionally seem much more aggressive than they had been final season. Mercedes’ latest upgrades have produced critical tempo, as Hamilton completed third in Spain every week in the past whereas Russell was fourth behind Verstappen and Norris.
Norris began that race on the pole, however misplaced the lead getting into Flip 1 on the opening lap as he fell behind each Russell and Verstappen. Norris stated Thursday that “all the things needs to be good” for McLaren to beat Verstappen.
“We’re towards top-of-the-line drivers ever in Formulation 1 who’s acting at an extremely excessive degree and something that wasn’t good, like my begin final weekend, you pay the worth for,” Norris stated. “Easy as that.”
