Relief. That's what Stefano Domenicali felt after Max Verstappen decided to stay with Red Bull until 2030. The new contract announcement also ended speculation that the Dutch driver could leave Formula 1 in the coming seasons.
This news arrives amid a difficult weekend for Red Bull at Zandvoort, but for Domenicali, securing Verstappen's future is priceless. "The news of Max staying in Red Bull for the next couple of years is a cherry on the cake for this weekend," he said.
The F1 boss emphasized that Verstappen is irreplaceable. "He is a world champion, a world-class person with a great personality in the sport. I cannot see Formula 1 without him," he added enthusiastically.
New Contract, Same Problems
However, the new deal didn't immediately fix Red Bull's on-track performance. Verstappen could only manage sixth in the sprint race and will start seventh for the grand prix, five tenths behind polesitter Lando Norris.
Verstappen admitted that the seaside circuit is the one that exposes the RB22's weaknesses the most. "We changed quite a lot on the car after the sprint, but none of it made any difference," he complained.
"The balance of the car is the biggest problem. It's just not consistent throughout the entire corner, and it has been like that all season. It's just a little worse at some circuits than at others," explained the driver, who also felt under the weather with a slight flu.
He added that fundamental issues with the car need to be solved. "We're now simply more limited by some fundamental problems with the car that we need to solve. At this circuit you also have some fast corners and we're lacking there as well. If you don't have a good balance, you can't really attack the corners, and if you don't have traction either, you can't get out of the corners properly, so all of that costs time," he said.
Despite that, Verstappen's decision to stay until the end of the current regulation cycle shows his commitment to the F1 project. The regulation changes for 2027, which increase reliance on ICE power, were a key factor in his decision.
Baca Juga
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