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There is no model of longevity and employment connection like this in the history of Formula 1. If the contract is fulfilled by both parties, Max Verstappen will compete for fourteen years in the same team, Red Bull. He will be 31 years old when he concludes his recently signed agreement with the energetic team until 2028 after making his debut in 2016 with a victory in Montmeló. Verstappen, who grew up at Red Bull’s (surviving Marines, really) pilot school in Fuschel, Austria, was also baptized into F1 with his mother team, Toro Rosso. It is seven more years of contract for the current world champion in a sport that is based on short deals, depending on the performance of the car and the driver, the sponsors and even geopolitics, as was the case with Nikita Mazepin.
To gauge the weight of longevity in F1, you have to listen to history. Without resorting to the Pleistocene, long-term benchmarks in the same team stick to very specific cases. Michael Schumacher celebrated 179 races with Ferrari during eleven campaigns with superlative success: he achieved 72 victories (almost one out of every two races) and 116 podiums. Mark Webber made life in Jaguar, then transformed into Red Bull (163 grand prix). And David Coulthard completed 150 evenings with McLaren in nine seasons. Verstappen is already knocking on the door of that ranking, just behind the aforementioned trio, with 141 races between Toro Rosso and Red Bull.
It is not normal in Formula 1, although the tendency to anchor young drivers has grown in recent times. Ferrari has made a strong bet on Charles Leclerc, whom in 2019 he signed a five-year agreement until 2024. A month ago, McLaren announced the continuity of Lando Norris for three more seasons. Last year Esteban Ocon was entrenched in Alpine until 2024. Verstappen had committed to Red Bull until 2023 and after winning the title from Lewis Hamilton in the fascinating last lap of the last grand prix of 2021, he has renewed until the confines of time. Seven more years in Formula 1 is a guarantee never seen before, not even in the best talents.
When he left McLaren in December 2012, Lewis Hamilton sealed a three-year contract with Mercedes in a project that was then understood as lasting and that has been extended over time based on short extensions. Alonso’s leap from world champion with Renault to McLaren in 2007 was resulted in three years of agreement, in what was sensed as a strategic alliance that did not last even twelve months.
“The length of this contract shows how much we value Max. Red Bull does not sign long-term contracts. It’s not a secret that character is a trait that is considered very important here», assured Helmut Marko, the ideologue of Red Bull.
The first versions suggest that the champion team has matched Verstappen’s salary to Hamilton’s: 40 million a year. Quite likely figure, according to F1 sources consulted after the economic injection that the multinational Oracle has contributed this year to the energy team.
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