It has been a decisive week for Formula 1’s driver market. Off the back of one home-race announcement, a four-time champion has ended a year and a half of speculation over his future, while two Williams stalwarts have proven that loyalty still counts for something in this sport. Elsewhere on the grid, an injury to Isack Hadjar has set off a chain reaction that pulled three drivers into new seats for this weekend alone. MOJEH Men rounds-up the F1 news you need to know.
Max Verstappen extends contract with Red Bull
Four-time world champion Max Verstappen has signed a new contract at Red Bull that is valid until the end of 2030. The move ends over a year of speculation about the Dutchman’s future, much of it fuelled by exit clauses in his previous deal, which ran to 2028 but reportedly allowed him to walk away depending on results. Mercedes was the most persistent suitor, with McLaren also mentioned, and Verstappen himself admitted this week he felt closer to retirement than to a switch.
What makes the timing notable is the context Red Bull find themselves in. Christian Horner, Adrian Newey and Helmut Marko, the architects of the team’s dominant run, have all departed over the past two years, and Verstappen’s long-serving race engineer Gianpiero Lambiase has agreed to join McLaren as Chief Racing Officer no later than 2028. For a driver whose management were said to have held McLaren talks earlier this year, staying put despite losing the voice that has sat on his radio since 2016 says something about where he now sees Red Bull heading under team principal Laurent Mekies. The announcement also landed on the eve of Verstappen’s home race at Zandvoort, the Dutch Grand Prix’s final edition on the calendar before organisers cited financial constraints.
Isack Hadjar out of the Dutch Grand Prix
Isack Hadjar will miss this weekend’s Dutch Grand Prix after picking up a wrist injury during the summer break, reportedly while boxing in training. The Frenchman, who sits eighth in the standings after a strong first season alongside Verstappen, is replaced at Red Bull by Liam Lawson, stepping up from Racing Bulls.
That single injury sets off a chain reaction down the grid. With Lawson pulled up to cover for Hadjar, Racing Bulls are left needing a replacement of their own, and the seat falls to reserve driver Yuki Tsunoda, who partners rookie Arvid Lindblad for the weekend. It is worth being clear that this is not a second demotion. Tsunoda has not beaten Lawson to anything; he is simply filling the gap Lawson’s move leaves behind, in his capacity as the team’s reserve.
Carlos Sainz signs multi-year deal at Williams
With his current deal set to expire at the end of this season, Carlos Sainz has signed a new multi-year contract with Williams, completing the team’s 2027 driver line-up alongside Alex Albon. The extension arrives despite a difficult 2026 for the Spaniard, who sits well down the order this year for a team that last won a constructors’ title back in 1997.
It is a decision that will split opinion. Sainz had been strongly linked with Audi, a team he reportedly held talks with before ever joining Williams, and this year’s underperforming car gave him every reason to walk. But the case for staying is stronger than the raw results suggest: his first season at Grove delivered two grand prix podiums, Azerbaijan and Qatar, Williams’ first rostrum appearances since Lance Stroll in 2017, and helped drag the team to fifth in the constructors’ standings, their best finish in nearly a decade. Whether the new car under James Vowles’ rebuild can match that promise remains the open question, though it is one worth asking given how far the team has already climbed from where it stood two years ago.
Alex Albon signs on until 2027
Alex Albon has agreed a new deal to remain at Williams for 2027, extending a stint that began in 2022 and makes him comfortably the longest-serving driver on the current roster. His commitment came a day before Sainz’s own announcement, effectively locking in Grove’s line-up for another season and taking pressure off a team that has had a tougher 2026 than expected after a surprise fifth-place championship finish in 2025.
Albon’s decision carries more weight than a routine renewal. He has watched Williams cycle through years near the back of the grid and stayed through them, and his statement on the deal made clear he sees this season as a blip rather than a pattern. The Albon-Sainz pairing now heads into Williams’ 50th anniversary season as one of the more settled partnerships on the grid, and for a team still rebuilding, that continuity may prove just as valuable as whatever comes out of the new aerodynamic package.
