Red Bull boss says talk of rivals signing up Verstappen "premature"
Saturday 14 November 2015 15:13, UK
Christian Horner has told Red Bull's rivals to forget about trying to sign Max Verstappen for "the next few years".
The 18-year-old Dutchman has emerged as F1's hottest young property during a debut season at Toro Rosso, Red Bull's junior stable, in which he has twice finished fourth and caught the eye with a string of bold overtaking moves.
Such has been the impression that Verstappen has made in just 17 starts that the sport's current two top teams, Mercedes and Ferrari, are already being linked with moves for the Dutchman as they plot their longer-term driver strategies.
However, Horner is comfortable with Red Bull's contractual position and says talk of Verstappen driving for anyone other than the company's two F1 teams is "premature".
"As with all Red Bull junior drivers, they're all contracted to Red Bull Racing. They're on loan to Toro Rosso until they graduate, if they're good enough, to the main Formula 1 team," he told Sky Sports News HQ.
"Max is no different to that, so there's no timescale attached to that.
"I'm not going to divulge the contents of his agreement other than to say that it's a multiple-year agreement and it would be premature to be talking about him driving anything other than a Red Bull-owned car in the next few years."
Having beaten Mercedes to Verstappen's signature last season, when the youngster was midway through his first year of single-seater racing in F3, Red Bull are thought to have tied the 18-year-old to a three-year contract which runs to 2017.
The doubts surrounding Red Bull's future in F1 had prompted speculation that Verstappen could be on the market earlier than that, but the company are now moving closer to a solution for their 2016 engine predicament.
Toro Rosso boss Franz Tost all-but confirmed in Brazil on Friday that Verstappen and team-mate Carlos Sainz would again form the team's driver line-up in 2016 provided the team stayed on the grid. The Italian-based outfit are likely to run year-old Ferrari engines next year.
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