FOUND: Stefano domenicali cannot see f1 without max verstappen

Formula 1 chief Stefano Domenicali has responded buoyantly to Max Verstappen extending his Red Bull contract.

The four-time world champion announced on Thursday that he’d signed a new deal with the Austrian outfit, taking the expiry date from the end of 2028 to the end of 2030.

It has therefore ended speculation that the 28-year-old may depart F1 in the coming seasons, which is talk that ran strife early in 2026 due to Verstappen’s discontent with the new regulations.

But the championship has committed to tweaks for 2027 such as increasing the reliance on ICE power, which led Verstappen to extend his stay through to the end of the current regulation cycle.

Domenicali said at this weekend’s Dutch Grand Prix: “The news of Max staying in Red Bull for the next couple of years is a cherry on the cake for this weekend.

“It’s great news. I’m very proud and happy because Max is a world champion, a world-class person that has a great personality in the sport and I cannot see Formula 1 without him.”

Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing (Photo by: Sam Bagnall / Sutton Images via Getty Images)

But the Dutchman has been unable to celebrate his new contract in style this weekend, as Red Bull has struggled at Zandvoort - where Verstappen won three on the bounce from 2021 to 2023.

The world champion, who is feeling a “bit flu-like”, only finished sixth - the position he started - in the sprint race and qualified seventh for Sunday’s grand prix, five tenths off polesitter Lando Norris.

He reckons the seaside circuit is a venue that exposes the RB22’s weaknesses more than most and it isn’t even related to set-up, as he will share the fourth row with team-mate Liam Lawson.

“We changed quite a lot on the car after the sprint, but none of it made any difference,” said Verstappen.

“The balance of the car is the biggest problem. It’s just not consistent throughout the entire corner, but it has been like that all season. It’s just a little worse at some circuits than at others.

“We’re now simply more limited by some fundamental problems with the car that we need to solve.

“At this circuit you also have some fast corners and we’re lacking there as well. In general, if you don’t have a good balance, you can’t really attack the corners and if you don’t have traction either, you can’t get out of the corners properly, so all of that costs time.”