It’s fair to say that over the opening months of the 2024 Formula 1 season, the shocks and stunning announcements in the driver market have provided more intense drama than the on-track action – at least at the very front of the field.
While Max Verstappen continues to hold the sport in a stranglehold, with four victories from the opening five rounds of the season, the headlines have been dominated by some major driver moves over the years to come.
It all began in February, when Mercedes confirmed that seven-times world champion Lewis Hamilton would be leaving their team after 12 seasons with them to join Ferrari in what may well be the third and final team move of his historic career. With Hamilton in at Ferrari, Carlos Sainz Jnr became a free agent and has been the subject of many hundreds of thinkpieces debating which team will and should earn his talents for 2025 and beyond. Fernando Alonso signed a contract extension with Aston Martin, while Nico Hulkenberg was announced just days ago as the first driver of Audi’s factory F1 team entering the sport in 2026.
But despite being the reigning three-time world champion with Red Bull, under contract with his team until the end of the 2028 season, even Verstappen himself has seen intense speculation over his future in the sport. Given his standing, Verstappen could command virtually any seat on the grid if he wanted – but would he consider leaving the team he has often referred to as “a family”?
For
The idea of Verstappen considering giving up everything that he has with his current team when he is enjoying the most dominant run the sport has ever seen seems ludicrous.
Verstappen is driven to win. Not to fight for podiums or points or try and drag a lowly team up the order to the front. He claims he does not find his dominant style of winning any less satisfying for how simple his victories appear to be and his team keep producing cars that are on a whole other level of performance to their rivals. Why would he voluntarily give that up?
Not to forget, Verstappen’s giant of a contract would have come with an extremely generous salary which will require significant compensation to Red Bull should he choose to escape from it now. Even if he wants to go elsewhere, it may prove far, far easier said than done to make it happen.
Against
Although it may seem hard to picture Verstappen ever thinking of leaving the Red Bull empire that he has rebuilt into the dominant force in Formula 1, there are a few…
Click Here to Read the Full Original Article at RaceFans…