Formula 1: Max Verstappen to return to Red Bull Racing in 2020

By Asher Fair | Aug 15, 2019

BUDAPEST, HUNGARY - AUGUST 04: Max Verstappen of the Netherlands driving the (33) Aston Martin Red Bull Racing RB15 on track during the F1 Grand Prix of Hungary at Hungaroring on August 04, 2019 in Budapest, Hungary. (Photo by Mark Thompson/Getty Images) /

Max Verstappen is set to return to Red Bull Racing in the 2020 Formula 1 season despite rumors that he could trigger a clause in his contract to leave the team.

With the performance exit clause that would have allowed Max Verstappen to leave Aston Martin Red Bull Racing following the conclusion of the 2019 Formula 1 season having expired, he is set to return to the team next year for what is set to be the final year of his current contract.

The 21-year-old Dutchman signed a three-year contract extension with the team in October of 2017 to remain with the team through at least the 2020 season, but there were rumors that he could leave the team after the 2019 season because of this clause and join Mercedes-AMG Petronas Motorsport as Lewis Hamilton’s teammate and Valtteri Bottas’s replacement.

However, Red Bull Racing team manager Helmut Marko confirmed that this clause has expired and Verstappen is set to return to the team next year because that clause could not be triggered given how Verstappen has performed so far this season.

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This clause, which pertained to whether or not Verstappen entered the summer break in the top three in the driver standings, likely would not have been triggered by Verstappen anyway even if he had been able to do so because of the strides that he and the team have made in their first season using Honda engines after ending their 12-year relationship with Renault.

Verstappen was promoted to Red Bull Racing after the first four races of the 2016 from Scuderia Toro Rosso, effectively the Red Bull Racing junior team, and he has driven for the team ever since. He secured the first victory of his career in his debut at the Milton Keynes-based team in the 2016 Spanish Grand Prix.

Over the course of his Formula 1 career, Verstappen has competed in 93 races, and he has driven for Red Bull Racing in 70 of them. He has earned seven victories, including two in each of the last three seasons, and recorded 27 podium finishes, all since he arrived at the team.

Verstappen finished in a career-high fourth place in the driver standings last season with a career-high average finish of 6.09, but he is poised to break both of those marks this season.

He sits in third place in the driver standings with an average finish of 3.33, and he has not finished a race outside of the top five all season. In fact, he is on a 21-race streak of top five finishes going back to what will be more than 13 months when the summer break ends in about two and a half weeks.

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With Max Verstappen confirmed at Red Bull Racing for the 2020 Formula 1 season despite that there was no official announcement from the team, which was somewhat expected considering the fact that his contract doesn’t end this year, the focus for the team will turn to who will be his teammate next year, as they recently replaced Pierre Gasly with Alexander Albon for the remainder of the 2019 season.

Meanwhile, the major focus of silly season as a whole will turn to who Mercedes select to be Lewis Hamilton’s teammate next year, Valtteri Bottas or reserve and test driver Esteban Ocon.

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