Drivers' contract: When F1 drivers' contract expires

Although F1 driver contracts are a subject of intrigue, the length of most contracts is known. F1Technical's Balázs Szabó takes a look at the possible date when drivers' contract expire.

Max Verstappen secured his first world title in 2021 with Red Bull. With two parties having been eager to secure a long partnership, the Dutchman signed a seven-year contract with the Milton Keynes based outfit that tie him with Red Bull until the end of the 2028 season.

Sergio Perez joined Red Bull Racing for the 2021 F1 season after having lost his race seat at Racing Point in the previous year. The Mexican played a huge part in his team-mate's first title by holding up Lewis Hamilton in a crucial part of the race. However, the five-time F1 race winner has had issues with keeping up with his Dutch team-mate since then.

Perez secured a contract extension with Red Bull in Monaco in 2022, but his future is very much hanging in the balance after his incredibly tough and frustrating 2023 season that saw him fail to progress into the last part of qualifying for six consecutive races.

It means that the Mexican, who has excelled on street tracks with Red Bull, will embark on a challenging 2024 F1 season that will prove decisive for his future at the currently dominant F1 team.

Lewis Hamilton signed a two-year contract extension with Mercedes which was announced on the eve of last year's Italian Grand Prix. Given the fact that the Stevenage-born driver secured six of his seven titles with Mercedes and his age, it looked very much likely that the seven-time world champion would retire from his current team.

However, on the 1st of February, Hamilton and Ferrari shocked the F1 world when they announced that the British drivers will join the fabled Italian team in 2025 on a multi-year deal. The deal was made possible by a break clause that Hamilton activated and that will see him leave Mercedes with a year left from his contract.

George Russell joined Mercedes for the 2022 F1 season, and has so far collected the team's only victory in Brazil in 2022 since the introduction of the new generation of groundeffect F1 cars.

The British driver agreed to a contract extension with Mercedes at last year's Italian Grand Prix which will see him race for the Brackley-based suqad until at least the end of the 2025 season.

With Hamilton's shoch deprature from Mercedes, Russell will be eyeing to team's leader regardless his future team-mate.

After debuting and spending a year at the Sauber-run Alfa Romeo team in 2018, Charles Leclerc earned his promotion to Formula One's most successful team, Ferrari the next season. The Monegasque has since established himself as the leader of the Italian outfit, having clinched five race victories and secured 23 pole positions.

Leclerc's first contract with the Scuderia was the longest contract ever given to a Ferrari driver. At the end of last month, Ferrari announced that the Monegasque penned a new deal, but they refused to confirm the exact length of the new contract. However, it is believed that his new deal covers the next three season (2025-2027) with a possible two-year extension.

After leaving McLaren, Carlos Sainz joined Ferrari in 2021, replacing Sebastian Vettel. The Spaniard clinched his first F1 victory with the Scuderia at the 2022 British Grand Prix while he went on to secure the only non-Red Bull triumph in the entire 2023 F1 season in Singapore courtesy of his heroic defensive drive.

While the Madrid-born driver had been linked to the future Audi F1 outfit, the end of the last season indicated that Sainz very much intended to extend his contract with Ferrari. However, when the Scuderia shocked the F1 world with the announcement that Lewis Hamilton would join the team as of 2025, Sainz was left without a seat. He will need to sort out his contract in the coming months with both the Mercedes and the future Audi team considered as possible options.

Lando Norris made his F1 debut in 2019 when he made the step up to the pinnacle of motorsport to join Carlos Sainz at McLaren. The Belgian-British driver has established himself as hot property in Formula 1 with his performances in the 2023 F1 season having been particularly impressive.

At the end of January, McLaren announced that it agreed a contract extension with Norris which will tie him to the Woking-based outfit until at least the end of the 2027 F1 season.

Having secured the F2 and F3 titles in consecutive year, Oscar Piastri spent the 2022 season on the sidelines. The Australian driver secured a contract with McLaren for the 2023 F1 season, and delivered some eye-catching performances with his win in the Qatar Sprint having been the highlight of his debut season in the sport.

McLaren did not hesitate much and signed Piastri to a longer-term contract with his new deal set to expire at the end of 2026.

Fernando Alonso moved to Aston Martin on a multi-year deal from Alpine, which appeared to be a backwards step based on 2022 form but early 2023 showed it was anything but.

His eight podiums that season made team principal Mike Krack confirm before the end of the season that he hopes to sign the two-time World Champion to another deal before the year is out.

As the son of Aston Martin team owner Lawrence Stroll, Lance’s contract is widely considered to be a rolling one.

Pierre Gasly left the Red Bull stable to join Alpine as a replacement for Alonso for the start of 2023, on a two-year deal initially.

His future may be one of the simpler stories of the 2024 season, with his contract including an option for the 2025 season if he and the team are satisfied with the direction of travel.

Esteban Ocon’s performances as Alonso’s team-mate prompted Alpine to sign him to a long-term deal back in 2021, which comes to an end at the conclusion of 2024.

He currently forms an all-French line-up with Gasly at Formula 1’s French constructor, with a distinct ‘national team’ feel in place at Alpine.

Alex Albon was labelled ‘hot property’ by his former boss, Red Bull team principal Christian Horner, as he has rebuilt his reputation – and some – following a somewhat bruising stint as Max Verstappen’s team-mate.

Now more experienced and a more-than-capable pair of hands, he has shown himself as Williams’ team leader since heading to the Grove-based team.

Logan Sargeant had been fighting for his future after a rookie season in which he was out-qualified 22-0 by Albon at Williams, with a healthy defeat in points come season’s end too.

He improved enough in the second half of the year to convince team principal James Vowles to keep him on for a second season, however, getting closer to Albon’s benchmark as 2023 progressed.

Having left Mercedes at the end of the 2021 season, Valtteri Bottas signed a three-year deal with Alfa Romeo. The Finn driver

Valtteri Bottas signed the first multi-year contract of his career when he left Mercedes for what was Alfa Romeo at the end of 2021, which is due to expire in 2024. Bottas will give his all to retain his seat at the team that has now become the Stake F1 Team until its 2026 majority takeover by Audi.

Formula One's first Chinese driver Zhou Guanyu made his F1 debut in 2022 with the Alfa Romeo team. The Shanghai-born racer finished in the points in his debut race at the 2022 Bahrain Grand Prix, and has scored points a further five times.

He has to continue to show his capabilities with several drivers set to become available for 2025 on the driver market. Moreover, with reigning Formula 2 champion Theo Pourchaire being a member of the Sauber Academy, Zhou and his team-mate Bottas will need to prove their worth if they are to retain their seats.

Having been on the sidelines for the first half of 2023, Daniel Ricciardo returned to action for the Hungarian Grand Prix to replace the ousted Nyck De Vries. The Australian appeared to have regained his form quickly, although his return was hindered by a training crash at the Dutch Grand Prix where he crashed into the barriers. His injury forced him to miss the next 4 rounds in Italy, Singapore, Japan and Qatar with Lawson replacing him for all 4 of those races but he returned for the United States Grand Prix.

The nine-time grand prix winner is tied with the freshly-renamed Visa Cash App RB until the end of the current season which means that he will need to prove himself if he wants to retain his seat or earn a promotion to Red Bull.

The Japanese driver made his F1 debut in 2021 with the then AlphaTauri outfit. He kept his seat for the next two years, and shared the team's garage with different drivers - Pierre Gasly, Nyck De Vries, Daniel Ricciardo and Liam Lawson.

The former F2 driver will race for the team this year alongside Ricciardo and he will need to prove himself as his contract with the Visa Cash App RB team expire at the end of 2024.

After a three-year hiatus, Nico Hulkenberg made his return as full-time F1 driver in 2023, joining Haas to partner Kevin Magnussen. While the American team had a difficult season last year, Haas wanted to retain the services of the two experienced drivers and signed a contract extension with Hulkenberg last August. The German is contracted with Haas until the end of the forthcoming season, so he will be looking to fix his future in F1 in the coming months.

After Haas ousted Nikita Mazepin right ahead of the 2022 F1 season, Kevin Magnussen was called back into the sport to partner Mick Schumacher. The Dane driver achieved some eye-catching results in his first year back in Formula One and stayed with Haas for 2023. Just as Hulkenberg, Magnussen secured a contract extension with the American team last August, which will see him race for Haas for the upcoming season.