The big winners from contract season

An important season lies ahead and one which should keep the lawyers happy, as the Formula 1 grid deals with a tidal wave of driver negotiations thanks to so many contracts coming up for renewal.

Charles Leclerc and Max Verstappen announced either side of the Christmas holidays that they are to remain with their teams until the end of the 2024 and 2023 seasons respectively - basically forever in F1 terms.

Mark McCormack, founder of sports management giant IMG, once said if someone gave him a five-year plan he'd "toss out pages detailing years three, four and five as pure fantasy. Anyone who thinks [they] can evaluate business conditions five years from now, flunks."

Nevertheless it's done, and the post-2020 jigsaw is forming before our eyes.

We know where Ferrari and Red Bull stand. 
We know, too, that both teams need to find competitive drivers for the other half of the garage and accept assorted sacrificial mixed-tyre strategies and 'your team mate is faster than you' messages.

With Lewis Hamilton likely to renew at Mercedes on a two-year commitment with an option for a third, the dominant silverbacks of the F1 jungle are pretty well set. The rest - aside from drivers such as Esteban Ocon and George Russell - have to negotiate contracts over what remains.

Recalling the first time I was asked to review a Formula 1 driver's contract, my task was to look over the 'marketing services' including personal appearances for sponsors, PR activities and visits to hospitality suites.

Another term for this could be 'things the drivers don't really want to do', so I gave these joyless commitments the once-over and turned to the page that interested me most; payment.

Saying or doing something that may bring the team into disrepute is not something to be encouraged and such contract clauses can have unforeseen consequences

When you see that someone is going to be paid £500,000 by direct debit on the 15th of each month in return for racing a Formula 1 car, it makes you sit back and reflect. This is a great deal of moolah and, while the risks are high, they aren't as high as they used to be.

The team's contractual obligations are usually summarised up front, including the requirement to turn up at each grand prix and provide a car that meets the rules and regulations defined by the FIA.

It's tricky for either side to contract to be 'competitive'. That is difficult to define, varies from team to team and, anyway, the driver doesn't design the car.

This is where legal terms such as 'best endeavours' or 'reasonable endeavours' 
can arise, the former meaning that a party has to do everything possible to achieve
the desired results, the latter that you have to try a bit.

Ferrari's drivers have to sign up to a strict code of conduct, including as regards their use of social media, which may be one reason why Sebastian Vettel avoids it. Saying or doing something that may bring the team into disrepute is not something to be encouraged and such contract clauses can have unforeseen consequences.

Not too many years ago a team principal made the unfortunate mistake of signing three drivers for a grand prix, only to be accidentally copied on an email from one of his driver's managers describing him in unflattering four-letter terms.

Since the email had been circulated to a number of people, the disrepute clause was deployed and the driver duly dropped from the next race. The team principal's three-into-two dilemma was resolved.

Funny world, contracts.