Sainz joins special ranks with Leclerc and Verstappen

Sainz also extends his contract

Formula 1 was always a sport in which the moment of the day was decisive. There were only a few drivers with a longer contract, but that was usually the star of a top team. The other drivers looked each year where they could get the best deal in terms of money and performance of the car and the teams also looked each year to see which driver was the best option for the next season.

However, there is now a trend where drivers and teams are entering into longer collaborations with each other. It happens especially with the new generation of drivers, who also already have a longer partnership with a particular team. For example, we saw Verstappen extend his contract through 2028 at Red Bull Racing and Leclerc previously extended his contract through 2024 at Ferrari.

Multi-year contracts in F1

Wherewith Verstappen and Leclerc you can still speak of top drivers and top teams committing one driver for a longer period, this is not necessarily the case with other teams. Fernando Alonso was brought in as the new leader at Alpine, but it is Esteban Ocon who has a contract until 2024 in his pocket. Carlos Sainz can also be added to this list. Despite good performances, he still really seems to be the number two within Ferrari, but he now has a long contract in his pocket.

This is a clear difference from the way Mercedes acted in recent years, where Valtteri Bottas had to fight for his seat every year. The Finn now signed a multi-year deal with Alfa Romeo, even though he was not even sure how Alfa Romeo would perform in 2022 with the new regulations.

Boring Silly Season

We are also seeing this at McLaren. Daniel Ricciardo came to the team as the frontrunner in 2021 with a deal through 2023. However, in the meantime, Lando Norris has also been offered an extension and the Briton is fixed until 2025. Kevin Magnussen, George Russell and Lewis Hamilton (2023) also have multi-year deals with their current team. Add Lance Stroll with his contract for life and there are few spots left in F1.

With this development, this year's Silly Season will become a lot less interesting. Only Red Bull Racing seems to have one spot left at the top, but with the performance of Sergio Perez, there is no change in sight. The biggest changes are therefore only possible in the midfield or the rear, which makes Silly Season a lot less interesting.