Nigeria in talks about holding Formula 1 race in Africa
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Metro
24 minutes ago
- Metro
Why Max Verstappen can't join Mercedes despite Red Bull exit clause
If Max Verstappen was hoping to leave Red Bull for Mercedes in 2026, he'll be disappointed as that option is no longer on the table. The future of the four-time Formula 1 champion has been up in the air for some time, with Red Bull unable to build a car to challenge for the title this season. While Verstappen has still picked up two wins this year, following Sunday's Belgian Grand Prix he is 81 points behind championship leader Oscar Piastri, with McLaren teammate Lando Norris the only one who can realistically challenge him. Speculation has ramped up in recent weeks after Mercedes boss Toto Wolff revealed he was in talks with the Dutchman over a blockbuster move to the Silver Arrows. Moreover, team principal Christian Horner was dismissed from his role by Red Bull, though Verstappen has since said his exit will not have any bearing on his own future. Throughout the entire saga, it has been known that there is a performance-related release clause in Verstappen's contract which runs until 2028. The 27-year-old was allowed to end his contract early and sign for a rival team, if he was outside of the top-three in the standings come F1's summer break. Verstappen is currently third in the championship, with fourth-placed George Russell 28 points behind and this weekend's Hungarian Grand Prix is the final race before the break However, with 25 the maximum number of points up for grabs at the Hungaroring, Verstappen is guaranteed to remain in the top-three, so his release clause will not become active. More Trending This does not rule out the transfer entirely, as the driver or Mercedes could buy out the remainder of his Red Bull contract, but given the huge expense required to do so, it is not under consideration. Instead, Mercedes are expected to stick with their current line-up of Russell and rookie Kimi Antonelli, both of whom are out of contract at the end of 2025. According to the Daily Mail, an announcement is not expected before the Hungarian Grand Prix but Russell is very close to putting pen to paper on a new multi-year, £30million-a-season deal. After a strong start to his F1 career, Antonelli's form has dropped off, scoring points in just one of the last seven races, but the 18-year-old's potential is clear to see and he should keep his seat. Russell finished fifth in Belgium but was far from happy with the pace of his Mercedes car, telling Sky Sports: 'It was pretty underwhelming, to be honest. 'Because we tend to favour the cooler conditions. So we couldn't have really asked for better weather for us. But we've just had no pace recently. We need to sit down, all of us. 'We're going to have a big meeting this week with all the designers and engineers. To sort of understand the decisions we've made in recent weeks or months. And why we've gone backwards. So hoping for some improvements in Hungary. 'P5 was probably flattering the real pace of the car, so I'm at least happy we got the maximum possible. We made a clear change of direction a couple of months ago, and I think it's been since that point we've taken a step backwards. 'It sometimes takes a few races to understand what the real reasons are for that lack of pace, but clearly it seems that we need to revert back to what we had earlier in the season.' For more stories like this, check our sport page. Follow Metro Sport for the latest news on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. MORE: All change in Formula One as Red Bull begin life after Christian Horner and Lewis Hamilton tells Ferrari 'it's crunch time' MORE: Red Bull decide to sack driver just days after Christian Horner exit MORE: Ferrari's stance on hiring Christian Horner after Red Bull sacking
Daily Mirror
6 hours ago
- Daily Mirror
Max Verstappen 2026 F1 plans decided as Red Bull release clause saga takes fresh twist
The biggest Formula 1 2025 silly season story by far has been the constant speculation that Max Verstappen could quit Red Bull to replace George Russell at Mercedes Max Verstappen is almost certain to stick with Red Bull for the 2026 season with his release clause set to expire. It is understood that the Dutchman would have been free to trigger an exit from the team if he were to find himself fourth or lower in the championship by the Formula 1 summer break. But that is now mathematically impossible after his strong haul at the Belgian Grand Prix. Verstappen won Saturday's Sprint race and finished fourth in the rain-affected main event a day later. He is third in the championship and 28 points ahead of George Russell in fourth, with one race to go until the break. Even if Verstappen were to finish Sunday's Hungarian Grand Prix pointless, and Russell were to win in Budapest, he would still be above the Brit in the championship. And so his easiest route out of Red Bull has now been blocked, amid speculation he could quit for rivals Mercedes. Despite the poor form of struggling rookie Kimi Antonelli, who finished pointless again on Sunday, Russell was by far the most likely Silver Arrows driver to make way if they had managed to lure Verstappen. Both Mercedes drivers are out of contract at the end of this year, as it stands. But a new deal for Antonelli is still likely to be a formality despite his difficult run – his first F1 podium in Canada was his only points finish across the last seven events. And despite delays to Russell's renewal, it is now expected that he too will put pen to paper on fresh terms in the coming weeks after a recent breakthrough in talks. The 27-year-old told Sky Sports on Sunday that he does not expect to sign a new deal before the Budapest race. And a few days earlier he had claimed it was "unlikely" that he would secure his future by the summer break. But the one thing boss Toto Wolff was waiting on, the potential availability of four-time World champion Verstappen for the 2026 season, now seems to be out of the question. Without an exit clause available, it would now take an enormous compensation offer – likely north of £100million – to convince Red Bull to part with their prized asset. Verstappen is contracted until 2028 and is believed to earn around £50m per year in guaranteed salary, before performance bonuses. Whether he sees out that deal, though, will largely depend on Red Bull's performance next term. Verstappen's streak of titles will almost certainly end this year with McLaren dominating the grid and he will want to spend as little time as possible out of contention. He turns 28 in September and has consistently indicated that he will retire from F1 racing comparatively early, even at times suggesting that his current Red Bull deal could be his last. He will want a title-winning car as often as possible and, if Red Bull are not competitive next year, when they will be using their own engines built in-house for the first time, then he is likely to consider his options. Links to Mercedes are likely to resurface if they produce the best new engine, as they did in 2014 the last time the sport's power unit rules changed. But, for now, the most eye-catching of 2025 F1 silly season stories seems to have reached its final chapter.
Daily Mirror
7 hours ago
- Daily Mirror
Ferrari confirm Lewis Hamilton engineer change amid scrutiny over F1 relationship
The relationship between Lewis Hamilton and his Ferrari engineers has been the subject of much scrutiny throughout this difficult debut season in red for the Brit Ferrari have confirmed a change to Lewis Hamilton's engineering team. But the new addition led to extra issues at the Belgian Grand Prix as the seven-time Formula 1 champion's new colleague adjusts to their new position. There has been plenty of scrutiny on the Ferrari engineers who have been working most closely with Hamilton ever since his switch to the Scuderia. Most notably, the relationship between the Brit and his race engineer Riccardo Adami has been repeatedly called into question amid a swathe of tense radio conversations. Hamilton has continued to insist, in public at least, that he has not problem at all with Adami and that they are working together well behind the scenes. And Ferrari seem to be happy with that situation too as the Italian remains in that post, having previously served as race engineer to Carlos Sainz before the Brit's arrival. But there has been a change to Hamilton's engineering team at large, which actually took place ahead of the Belgian GP weekend. Ferrari have now confirmed that a new performance engineer was brought into the fold – a figure who has not been named publicly by the team, but who the racer has worked with before. "It's not easy to switch engineers within the middle of the season, but it's someone that I've known for years [and was] actually from my previous team with me, but not in that position," Hamilton confirmed. "So we're getting used to each other and having to learn super, super quick." It was a rough weekend for Hamilton at the Circuit Spa-Francorchamps, which used the Sprint format. That meant just one hour of practice to get up to speed and it clearly wasn't enough for the Brit who suffered double Q1 exits in both qualifying sessions. But he did recover well in the race to finish seventh and, even though the change to his engineering team made it even trickier for them to get the balance of the car right in Belgium, Hamilton sounded optimistic about what benefits the change might bring in the coming weeks and months. He added: "I think the changes that we had [to the car this weekend] really caught both of us out, but I think we did a great job overnight and we'll just get stronger and stronger together. "[With the] change of engineer, we're both in the deep end, basically. And I think we did a really good job overnight to rectify some of those tweaks and fine tune it. The car was so much better to drive today, so I had a lot of fun trying to make my way through. "I think this one is definitely one to put behind me, [but] I definitely feel confident going forward. I learned more about the car today, fine-tuned it. I'll set that up better for next week. I will be at the factory on Wednesday. So yeah, I don't see why we can't have better results moving forward."
