Verstappen’s Contract Extended, But Russia’s Is Terminated

Sport of all kinds feels somewhat insignificant at the moment due to the far more serious events impacting the world and in particular the people of Ukraine, but the twofold latest news in Formula 1 is that last year’s champion Max Verstappen has received a major extension to his existing Red Bull contract whereas F1 has terminated its Russian Grand Prix contract.

Verstappen’s current contract was set to run until the end of the 2023 season, but it has now been extended by a further five years to the end of 2028, making it probably the longest driver contract in Formula 1 history and reportedly worth upto E50m per annum.

The Dutch ace was brought into F1 by Red Bull via its sister Toro Rosso outfit and seems delighted to commit his long term future to them, with his Red Bull team principal Christian Horner having also recently extended his own contract to the end of 2026.

To help fund such deals Red Bull recently signed a title sponsorship arrangement with Oracle and a $150m contract with cryptocurrency platform Bybit. Having the services of the highly rated Verstappen tied to the team for such a long period of time also helps its ongoing discussions with the VW Group about a potential future power unit deal.

It had been announced last week that there would be no Russian Grand Prix in Sochi this autumn, but Formula 1 has now also ended its contract for all races in Russia upto 2025.

The official statement advised “Formula 1 can confirm it has terminated its contract with the Russian Grand Prix promoter meaning Russia will not have a race in the future.”

As sport continues to distance itself from Russia and Belarus, athletes from those countries have now been told that they will not be allowed to participate after all in this month’s Paralympic Games in China.

The FIA’s World Motorsport Council had decided earlier this week that Russian and Belarusian race licence holders would still be able to compete in international events, but only under the neutral FIA flag.

However, David Richards, the Chair of the Motorport UK governing body, has announced that drivers from both countries will not be eligible to race in the UK in defiance of the overall FIA stance.

This all leaves Haas’ 23 year old driver Nikita Mazepin facing an uncertain future, with the Russian now not allowed to race at Silverstone’s British Grand Prix in July and with there being serious question marks about the long term funding from his and Haas’ Russian corporate backer Uralkali.

If the team does end up needing a replacement driver, a leading candidate is its current reserve driver, the 25 year old Brazilian-American Pietro Fittipaldi, who is the grandson of two-time F1 world champion Emerson Fittipaldi.