Christian Horner Suggests Max Verstappen Could Replace Lewis Hamilton at Mercedes


Christian Horner Suggests Max Verstappen Could Replace Lewis Hamilton at Mercedes

Max Verstappen and Christian Horner

Max Verstappen and Christian Horner

Earlier in the month of February, Red Bull’s Advisor Helmut Marko had mentioned Max Verstappen possessing a ‘performance clause’ in his contract. Well, to brief the readers about this clause, Verstappen would be free to leave Red Bull if the team falls back in performance.  This clause lasts until the 2023 season. This could turn out to be a blessing for the Dutchman, considering Red Bull will be taking over Honda’s engine project for the 2022 season and beyond. 

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However, Red Bull’s team principal, Christian Horner, revealed that Max has enough trust over the team’s new project. Hence, he opined that neither Red Bull nor Max would be pushed to using the contractual clauses at any point in time. Speaking to BBC, Horner revealed the prospects of Max leaving the Red Bull F1 team in the near future. 

Christian Horner on Max Verstappen believing in Red Bull F1’s new project 

Max believes in the project and sees the investment Red Bull is making. He believes in the people within the team. So I am confident we won’t need to refer to any contractual clauses,” he said. 

It will be ultimately down to us to deliver a competitive car. That’s [what] we want, and he wants. So in that respect, we are in the identical situation.” 

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Should Lewis decide to stop, then Max Verstappen would be the driver as per Christian Horner. Lewis Hamilton, after a rather long wait, confirmed his stay with the defending champions, Mercedes. However, shockingly, the contract only lasts until the end of the 2021 season. Hence, this opens the door to multiple questions. But what Horner‘s afraid of is the fact that Max could end up as Mercedes’ next target if Lewis chooses to retire. 

Should Lewis decide to stop, then Max would naturally be the driver at the top of the list. But they also have George Russell and other drivers available to them,” he said. 

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