Shortly after winning his first Formula 1 world championship last season, Max Verstappen signed a new contract that will keep him on Red Bull’s books until 2028. His previous deal was due to run out at the end of the 2023 campaign, however, so it’s only natural some at the Milton Keynes base might have been fretting over his long-term future.
Team advisor Helmut Marko was among that number, it seems, despite previously stating he didn’t worry about their star joining their biggest nemeses, Mercedes. Verstappen was only 18 when he made his Red Bull debut at the Spanish Grand Prix in 2016, though he was in their academy and raced with sister company Toro Rosso for several years prior to that.
Marko conceded he was “a little” concerned Red Bull would lose their headliner unless the title wait ended. It was fortunate, then, that ex-race director Michael Masi’s intervention helped Verstappen pip Lewis Hamilton to the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix and a maiden world championship in December.
“When we couldn’t deliver him a championship-winning car in the long run, I was afraid he might go somewhere else,” Marko told Dutch magazine Formule1. That dynamic changed in 2021, however, when Verstappen finally surged to the top of the pile after back-to-back third-place finishes.
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“I am proud of what Max has achieved,” Marko continued. “It confirms that it was the right choice at the time to bring him to Formula 1. And it has also silenced all the skepticism that existed in the beginning.” In regards to the decision to extend Verstappen’s deal, the Austrian suggested it was the logical choice: “We only had to change the years for the new contract.”
Verstappen himself said he hoped to remain with Red Bull for “10 to 15 years” after his triumph last December, bringing the manufacturer its first drivers’ title since Sebastian Vettel won in 2013. He has a new nemesis emerging in Ferrari favourite Leclerc, however, who will look to ensure it’s another long wait before his old karting rival adds to his trophy cabinet.