Contract extensions for Russell and Hamilton shed new light on Verstappen-McLaren rumours

Lewis Hamilton and George Russell have already secured contract extensions by exercising the options included in their respective agreements – leaving McLaren as the only credible leverage to bolster Max Verstappen's negotiating position with Red Bull

Two of the most coveted seats on the Formula 1 driver market have already been filled, but there will be no official announcements, no press releases accompanied by grip-and-grin photos with the team boss and key sponsors.

The reason is simple: no new contracts have been signed. Instead, options already included in existing agreements have been exercised – so from a legal standpoint there is nothing new to promulgate.

This is exactly what has happened with Lewis Hamilton, who held an option in his favour guaranteeing him a third season with Ferrari. The seven-time world champion met the performance clauses set out in the agreement he signed in January 2024, automatically triggering the contract extension.

The same mechanism has also come into effect at Mercedes. After the Spanish Grand Prix in Barcelona, the Brackley-based team exercised the option in George Russell's contract, securing the continuation of their partnership through 2027. Russell will therefore contest his sixth season with the Silver Arrows and, for the third consecutive year, will be teamed with Kimi Antonelli.

Unlike 12 months ago, the decision to retain Russell was not influenced by the potential availability of Max Verstappen on the driver market. At precisely the moment when the circumstances might have favoured a move for Verstappen, Mercedes boss Toto Wolff — who had pursued Verstappen for more than a decade — chose not to disrupt a balance that is currently allowing Mercedes to achieve the best results realistically possible.

The Verstappen rumours only serve... Max

Interestingly, just as Mercedes and Russell were finalising the continuation of their partnership, reports began circulating about McLaren's supposed interest in Verstappen. The script is so familiar it has practically become a trope in Formula 1.

Lando Norris, McLaren, Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing

Photo by: Colin McMaster / LAT Images via Getty Images

Every time the season reaches the point where the exit clauses in Verstappen's contract could allow him to leave Red Bull, rumours inevitably surface linking him with another team. They may be triggered by a member of ‘Team Max' being seen taking coffee in another motorhome in the paddock, or by a quiet word in the ear of one of the Dutch media outlets.

In recent years, Mercedes was the team most frequently mentioned. Now there are no longer any seats available at Brackley, that role in the pantomime has shifted to McLaren.

It is entirely plausible there has been some contact between the parties, but that is simply part of the normal workings of the driver market. Teams gather information, just as drivers' managers do, to maintain a complete picture of all available options.

And when the name on the table is Verstappen, no team remains indifferent. As McLaren's Zak Brown said to Sky TV, "if for some strange reason someone slipped on a banana peel getting out of the [bath] tub, then yeah of course, Max is a four-time world champion."

The biggest beneficiary of this dynamic, though, is always Max himself. The same narrative played out during the previous rounds of speculation linking him with Mercedes, when media reports strengthened the negotiating position of his manager, Raymond Vermeulen, enabling him to secure increasingly favourable financial terms from Red Bull – ultimately resulting in Verstappen enjoying the healthiest stipend of any F1 driver.

That is why it's difficult to view the recent reports of McLaren's interest with anything other than scepticism, especially since they surfaced at the perfect moment for ‘Team Max'. Three weeks ago, Verstappen, his father Jos, along with Vermeulen met in Austria with Chalerm Yoovidhya, Red Bull's majority shareholder, and Mark Mateschitz, the son of the company's founder.

Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing

Photo by: Sam Bloxham / LAT Images via Getty Images

The Verstappen camp is fully aware of the negotiating leverage it now enjoys, built not only on the level of performance Verstappen continues to deliver on the track but after losing almost all the key figures from the championship-winning era that culminated in six world titles between 2021 and 2024, Red Bull simply cannot afford to lose its leading figure as well.

Today, Verstappen is the face of the team far more than anyone else among the group's more than 1,500 employees. His departure would have a devastating impact on the credibility of the new technical and sporting project that has emerged following the departures of Christian Horner, Adrian Newey, and Helmut Marko.

No one understands this better than Red Bull's senior leadership. For that reason, it's difficult to imagine that Verstappen's next agreement will resemble a conventional driver contract; there is well-sourced talk in the paddock that equity in the team is on the table.

Rather than being just another signature on paper, then, Verstappen's next deal will represent confirmation of the extraordinary negotiating power a driver has attained – one who is now in a position to dictate terms beyond the reach of anyone else in the Formula 1 paddock.

And at present, only Red Bull is ready and able to offer him those terms.