Max Verstappen finished second in the Qatar Grand Prix Sprint race on Saturday to secure his third Formula 1 world title, after which Christian Horner made a prediction about his future.
Christian Horner admitted his belief that Max Verstappen will retire from Formula 1 as a relatively young man.
Fernando Alonso, 42 years old, proved this year that F1 drivers can continue competing for a long time. And Lewis Hamilton will still race in the sport beyond his 40th birthday after signing a new contract with Mercedes last month.
But Verstappen has repeatedly said he has no intention of staying in this sport for that long. At 26, he is a three-time world champion, claiming his third crown on Saturday when he finished second at the Qatar Sprint Grand Prix.
There’s still plenty of time for the Red Bull driver to become the best the sport has ever seen. But that’s only if he changed his mind and extended his F1 career.
Verstappen’s current contract with Red Bull keeps him with the team and the sport until 2028, when he will be 31 years old. Afterwards, team manager Horner admitted he could lose his star man.
“Will Max be in Formula 1 for a long time? I don’t think so,” he wrote to the Press Association. “He has ambitions beyond F1 and beyond racing. And at 26 years old, 36 seems so far away.
“We have a long-term contract with him until 2028 and he has always said he would be happy to start and finish his career here, but motivation will be the key factor.”
Horner also recalled how Red Bull spotted Verstappen when he was a promising teenager and stopped him before Mercedes could secure his signature. “There has been a lot of talk about Max in karting. I first saw him in his first Formula 3 race at Silverstone in 2014,” he wrote. “I remember telling Helmut Marko – Red Bull’s motorsport consultant – that this boy looked like the real thing. Helmut watched him at Norisring in Germany and he was convinced.
There was interest from Niki Lauda and Mercedes, but Red Bull could take him straight to Formula 1. So he came to us very young. He is 16 years old. And I remember that on his first outing with us – a rally in Rotterdam – he took the front wing off the car! But from where he sat, you could see that the faith he had in a young man was exceptional. »