Performance clause or not, Red Bull chiefs are expecting to hold on to their star asset for next season after two wins in three races
Saturday 3 August 2019 07:56, UK
Red Bull advisor Helmut Marko has indicated that Max Verstappen is set to stay at the team for 2020.
Verstappen is F1's form driver, with two wins in the last three races and 20 consecutive top-five finishes dating back to August 2018, and consistently earning plaudits for his performances.
Although his Red Bull deal runs to the end of next season, speculation surrounding a performance exit clause for 2020 had abounded before the first of Verstappen's 2019 victories in Austria in June.
But Marko has suggested the 21-year-old will not be leaving.
"Max wants to win so he is satisfied and happy when he's winning," Red Bull advisor Marko told Sky Sports in Italy at the Hungaroring.
"But he sees the progress what we are doing and, as it looks, he has to stay with us anyway."
Red Bull boss Christian Horner told Sky F1: "Max is very comfortable in the team, we love having him in the team, and the rest is fairly irrelevant."
All of F1's big names are out of contract at the end of 2020 and, asked about Verstappen's longer-term future, Marko said: "I don't think next year (that he will leave) and we have to see how the progress from the Honda side is and the progress from the chassis side.
"But we are looking good here and we won two races and in Silverstone we were unlucky, otherwise we would have finished second. So we are in a good route and getting more and more competitive."
'Verstappen fastest Red Bull driver ever'
Having taken his F1 wins tally to seven in impressive fashion at Hockenheim last Sunday, Verstappen has drawn level with former team-mate Daniel Ricciardo as the third-most successful Red Bull driver.
Sebastian Vettel, who won all four of his world titles at the team, comfortably leads that table - but Marko has claimed that Red Bull's current leading incumbent is the quickest they have seen.
"I would say he is the one who is the most mature and also the fastest driver we had," said Marko of Verstappen.
