Why Audi and Verstappen have complicated Formula 1’s driver market decisions

But while we have had some important decisions made already – like Lewis Hamilton to Ferrari and Fernando Alonso re-committing to Aston Martin – there remains a great deal still to be sorted.

What is perhaps most fascinating though is that not everyone is running to the same timing agenda, and that has left things hugely complicated for both drivers and teams as they try to plot their best path forward.

On the one hand, teams like Mercedes and Red Bull are pretty relaxed with how things are playing out as they look ready to bide their time and wait to see what their best options are for 2025.

At Red Bull, Sergio Perez is doing enough to justify him being retained once again, but we have seen strong starts to a campaign not follow through to the remainder of the year.

That is why the team has repeatedly said that it wants to wait a while – potentially until the summer – to choose what it does with who lines up alongside Max Verstappen.

Mercedes is also playing a watching brief on things as it plots who best to slot in as George Russell’s team-mate in 2025 as replacement for Hamilton.

The early favourite is Andrea Kimi Antonelli, whose F1 testing programme has been expanded as the German manufacturer intends to do everything it can to get him up to speed with grand prix machinery.

But equally there remains that slim shot of Verstappen potentially being available if the Dutchman and his entourage decide that things are not playing out at Red Bull as they would like.

Insiders suggest that Verstappen is totally set on staying at Red Bull for now, but equally if there was a 0.01% chance of him being free, Mercedes would be foolish to let that slip through its grasp at the very time it had a seat available.

It is why it does not want to commit to anyone else now, even if others are putting pressure on getting quick decisions.

But Mercedes also knows that if Verstappen does not move, and the conclusion later this year is that Antonelli could do with either another year in F2 or being farmed out to another grand prix team, then it needs a Plan B option.

It is why it is scouting around and seeing who is available to get a clear picture of where things stack up, although it feels in no rush to do anything.

But the attraction for drivers in there potentially being a Red Bull or Mercedes seat up for grabs in the summer if they wait is tempered by the fact that not all teams are willing to hold fire that long.

And…