Why Verstappen's new Red Bull deal was critical to Honda's F1 future
Ferrari and Red Bull have locked Charles Leclerc and Max Verstappen into unusually long-term Formula 1 deals. While Leclerc's new contract was no surprise, Verstappen was believed to be exploring options elsewhere. STUART CODLING explores why Verstappen was convinced to stay on
The 2021 driver-market silly season became a whole lot less exciting over the winter as Max Verstappen and Charles Leclerc pledged themselves to Red Bull and Ferrari on long deals that will take them well into the new decade.
Apart from the timing of the announcements - Leclerc's just as most people were sitting down with a calculator to figure out how long to blast the Christmas turkey, Verstappen's just as they were figuring out how to shed the excess poundage from all that feasting - it was the duration of those contracts that intrigued.
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