Formula 1: Red Bull Racing have no reason to worry about Max Verstappen

Red Bull Racing have no reason to worry about what Max Verstappen decides to do following the conclusion of the 2019 Formula 1 season.

After Aston Martin Red Bull Racing team manager Helmut Marko started rumors last month about Mercedes-AMG Petronas Motorsport executive director and CEO Toto Wolff having been in contact with Red Bull Racing’s Max Verstappen, there has been talk of Verstappen potentially leaving Red Bull Racing to drive for Mercedes beginning in the 2020 Formula 1 season.

But in reality, Red Bull Racing have no reason to worry about Verstappen’s future, much less the rumors that are circulating about it.

First of all, Verstappen, his father, former Formula 1 driver Jos Verstappen, and Wolff all denied these rumors and reportedly laughed them off.

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Additionally, while the three-year contract extension that Verstappen signed in October of 2017 to continue driving for the Milton Keynes-based team through the 2020 season reportedly does contain a performance clause that would allow him to seek other options if the team do not give him a car that is capable of winning this year’s championship, where would he go if he leaves the team?

The only two logical options would be Mercedes or Scuderia Ferrari, the two teams that, along with Red Bull Racing, have combined to win each of the last 122 races going all the way back to early on in the 2013 season.

Mercedes would not even make sense at this point given the fact that five-time champion Lewis Hamilton signed a two-year contract extension last July to continue driving for the team through the 2020 season.

The Brackley-based team also have the option of extending Valtteri Bottas, whose current contract runs through the 2019 season, through the 2020 season as well, and even if they opt not to do that, it would make sense for either Esteban Ocon or George Russell, both Mercedes junior drivers, to get the nod.

Ocon has spent two seasons as a full-time Formula 1 driver and is currently the reserve drive for the Silver Arrows. Russell, meanwhile, is in his rookie season driving for ROKiT Williams Racing. While the team as a whole have been disastrous through the first four races of this season, the 21-year-old Briton has gotten the absolute most out of his car.

Let’s also not discount Hamilton’s influence on the team’s decision as to who their second driver will be next season. It’s hard to envision him wanting to be paired with the 21-year-old Dutchman at this point anyway.

Ferrari, meanwhile, would make even less sense for Verstappen, and it doesn’t even seem like a remote possibility at this point.

Four-time champion Sebastian Vettel signed a three-year contract extension in August of 2017 to continue driving for the Scuderia through the 2020 season while Charles Leclerc is currently in his first season driving for the team, and his contract reportedly runs through at least the 2022 season.

Why should Red Bull Racing be even the slightest bit concerned about Verstappen’s future with the team?

They shouldn’t.

After all, the team have started off the 2019 season better as a whole than they have over the last few seasons, and while there is certainly still a performance gap up to where Mercedes and Ferrari are, Red Bull Racing expect to close or, at the very least, narrow that gap in the near future. As a result, whatever performance clause exists within Verstappen’s contract may very well end up becoming obsolete anyway.

Given the recent quote by Red Bull Racing team principal Christian Horner, it appears as though the team are not making a big fuss out of these rumors and the ensuing speculation regarding Max Verstappen’s future beyond the conclusion of the 2019 Formula 1 season, which is a good thing. That said, it would be best for them — including Marko — to go one step further and completely forget about those rumors right here and now.