Verstappen extends Red Bull deal to 2030

Ninoda.com – Max Verstappen best results this season have been two second places Four-time world champion Max Verstappen has signed a new contract at Red Bull until the end of 2030. The move should end speculation about the Dutchman's future at the end of this season, after he had been linked with potential moves to Mercedes or McLaren. Verstappen was previously contracted to the end of 2028, but there were clauses in his contract that would have allowed him to leave at the end of the current Formula 1 season had he wanted.

"We have the best people and I'm excited to keep working together with everyone to get back to the top again," said Verstappen, 28. "This remains the ultimate goal that all of us have been working towards and will continue to pursue. "I have always said it: the team is like a second family for me and I feel very at home.

"I came to the team hoping to be able to win races. What we went on to achieve together has been simply lovely and we have shared many incredible moments and won four World Championships. "To continue this journey with the same team that I have been with my whole career is really special and something I have always wanted to do." Red Bull have had a difficult start to the era of new regulations for cars and engines introduced for this season.

Verstappen's best results have been two second places, in the Austrian and Hungarian Grands Prix, after coming within two points of beating McLaren's Lando Norris to the world title last season. That 2025 close call followed a dramatic fightback in the second half of the season from a deficit of more than 100 points to the championship lead. Red Bull's lack of performance has led to Verstappen voicing frustration on a number of occasions, but in the end he has decided to stick with what he knows.

The decision comes despite his trusted race engineer Gianpiero Lambiase signing to join McLaren by 2028. Verstappen's renewal statement included praise for team principal Laurent Mekies, who took over last July after former boss Christian Horner was sacked following a turbulent 18-month period and a decline in competitiveness. "Getting to work with Laurent now for over a year has also been great, I see a clear vision he has for the team," Verstappen said.

"Everyone [at Red Bull's base] in Milton Keynes believes in what we are building and I am looking forward to the next chapter, fighting for more victories and competing for championships as we continue to shape the future of this team." The announcement has been timed to coincide with Verstappen's final home race this weekend before the Dutch Grand Prix at Zandvoort falls off the calendar. Max Verstappen signs his new contract alongside team principal Laurent Mekies Although the deal takes Verstappen to the end of 2030, there are still mechanisms by which he could leave if performance does not come up to expectations. This is standard practice in driver contracts in F1.

The details are not yet known, and teams do not comment on contractual intricacies. Mekies said: "Having Max continue with us and retaining the best driver on the grid is fantastic news. "Very few partnerships in sport achieve what Max and this team have.

Since the very beginning, Max has embodied everything that makes Red Bull Racing special: uncompromising competitiveness, relentless determination and the courage to challenge convention. "His impact on our team and Red Bull's motorsport story has been transformational and he has been fundamental to everything we have achieved together. "The decision to continue our journey together is rooted in the trust Max and the team have built over many years, as well as Max's confidence in our people, our culture and our vision for the future.

"Forged through championship-winning success, intense battles and challenging moments alike, this relationship has only grown stronger – making it one of Formula 1's greatest success stories. But we are not done yet. There are more races to win, more milestones to achieve and more history to write." Verstappen started his F1 career with Red Bull's junior team, then called Toro Rosso, in 2015.

He was promoted to the senior team after four races of his second season, 2016, and immediately won his first race. He has since gone on to win 71 grands prix alongside his four world titles, with his tally of race victories ranking third in all-time F1 history after Lewis Hamilton and Michael Schumacher. Perhaps the single most important aspect of the announcement that Verstappen has extended his Red Bull contract is that it confirms his commitment to Formula 1.

That's after a year in which the four-time champion, and arguably the greatest racing driver in the world, has publicly questioned the direction in which the sport is going. Verstappen has made no secret of the fact he hates the new engines that were introduced this season. The overwhelming need for energy management in hybrid engines that don't have enough recovery capacity to operate at full power anything like all the time is anathema to someone who is the purist's purist when it comes to racing.

F1 has acknowledged its errors in the formation of the rules and is moving back in a direction where the drivers will be able to drive and race more as they like. That has to have played a part in his decision. For Red Bull, too, the news is a huge boost, after Verstappen explored his options with other teams.

The danger of him leaving has not gone away – he still has options to leave if performance is not up to scratch. But his renewed commitment to the team – which is not about money, even if he has received a small pay rise from already the highest salary on the grid – is a demonstration of faith in the middle of a season in which he has also not hidden his dissatisfaction with his car's performance. Verstappen being Verstappen, his future will always be a topic of conversation.

But this keeps a lid on much of that talk for a while. The main focus of the driver market now turns to Fernando Alonso, a kindred spirit of Verstappen, and whether the Aston Martin veteran extends his quarter-century stay in F1. How to follow Dutch Grand Prix on the BBC 'Leader' Sainz commits to Williams with new deal Antonelli – the boy 'born in a garage' who started driving on dad's lap