Max Verstappen ‘escape clause’ in new Red Bull contract revealed

Verstappen signed a deal through to the end of the 2028 season

Max Verstappen signed a new contract with Red Bull ahead of the 2022 Formula 1 season (Getty Images)

Max Verstappen’s new Red Bull contract does include an exit clause, long-time team advisor Helmut Marko has confirmed.

Verstappen agreed to a new deal with the team ahead of the 2022 Formula 1 season after securing his maiden world title last year.

The Dutchman’s extension runs until the end of the 2028 season and the 24-year-old has said that he feels comfortable with Red Bull - having a degree of loyalty to them after coming through the manufacturer’s driver development program.

But Marko, who oversees the program that brought Verstappen through, has clarified that were Red Bull’s performance to dip, Verstappen’s contract includes a mechanism that would allow him to get out of the long-term deal.

Marko said to Formel1.de: “Of course. If we experience a ‘crash’ like in 2014, when we had absolutely no chance against Mercedes on the engine side, then it’s clear there is an escape clause.”

Red Bull finished nearly 300 points behind Mercedes in the 2014 constructors’ championship, with Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg securing a dominant drivers’ championship one-two.

Verstappen controversially pipped Hamilton at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix in December 2021 to deny the British driver a record eighth world title.

After failing to finish the first race in the defence of his crown, with engine trouble ending Verstappen’s Bahrain Grand Prix prematurely, the 24-year-old held off Charles Leclerc in Saudi Arabia to claim victory and again shapes as a likely favourite in 2022.

Speaking after he signed the new contract in early March ahead of the start of the season, Verstappen said that he “always believed in the project” that culminated with his title triumph.

Max Verstappen triumphed at the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix (POOL/AFP via Getty Images)

“I feel really well in the team and I think that is already very important,” Verstappen explained.

“And I always felt loyalty because of the opportunity they gave me in Formula 1. And then we had always the same goal.

“I always believed in the project and luckily that paid off last year and it also kind of takes the pressure off a little bit, the needing to win that title.

“We did it now and I trust in the people around me. I have a good time with them, there is no reason to change that.”