Max Verstappen has an exit clause in his Red Bull contract

Max Verstappen looks set to be in the championship fight again this season in Formula 1, but Red Bull advisor Helmut Marko has revealed that if the team drops away in performance in the future then he will be able to leave.

The Dutchman is the reigning world champion after sealing the title at the end of the 2021 campaign, following on from a year-long duel with Lewis Hamilton.

And, whilst Hamilton’s Mercedes team has started this season with a few issues to contend with, the Red Bull car is once again looking quick, as they fight Ferrari for early season victories.

Mercedes’ plight, regardless of how long it goes on for, highlights how any team can eventually fall from grace for at least a short period of time, though, and if similar happens with Red Bull in the years ahead, Marko has revealed Verstappen would be able to leave his contract with the team early – with his current terms running into 2028.

“If Red Bull experiences a kind of ‘crash’, just like in 2014, then there is, of course, an escape clause,” Marko said in an interview with formel1.de.

The ‘crash’ he mentions, of course, came at the beginning of the turbo-hybrid era where four years of Sebastian Vettel winning the title were brought to an end by the emergence of Mercedes.

Indeed, it wasn’t long until Vettel was moving on from the team and heading to Ferrari, whilst Red Bull would not see a championship win – Drivers or Constructors – until last year with Max.

A driver of Verstappen’s talent, then, needs to be in a competitive car and, that said, it’s perhaps no surprise to learn that this clause is in place.

Both parties, though, will hope that it is never needed and that there’s plenty more success to come.