ANALYSIS: When do F1 drivers' contracts expire

Although F1 driver contracts are a subject of intrigue, the length of most contracts is known. F1Technical's senior writer 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.

The Mexican penned a two-year contract extension with Red Bull in Monaco that will take him past Formula 1’s regulation changes into 2026.

Team principal Christian Horner said this will give Red Bull important “continuity and stability” moving forward, with Verstappen and Perez having been the team’s line-up since all the way back in 2021.

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.

The Spaniard announced after the Belgian Grand Prix that he will join Williams for the 2025 F1 season, having signed a two-year contract.

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 the 2022 pecking order but early 2023 showed it was anything but.

Although Aston Martin has been struggling for pace this year, the Ovideo-born racer signed a fresh multi-year deal with the Silverstone-based outfit that will take him until at least the end of the 2026 season.

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

The British outfit announced in June 2024 that Stroll was signed to a contract extension with Aston Martin that would see him into ‘2025 and beyond’.

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.

The Frenchman recently signed a new multi-year deal with Alpine for the start of the 2025 season. Although no exact date was confirmed, it is believed that Gasly is contracted at Alpine until the end of 2026.

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. Ocon announced his departure from Alpine ealier this year, and the Frenchman announced ahead of last weekend's Belgian Grand Prix that he will join Haas to partner rookie driver Oliver Bearman at the American outfit in 2025.

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.

The former Red Bull driver penned a new Williams deal recently which means that he will be with the Grove-based team until at least the end of 2026.

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.

His excellent early form at the start of 2024 ensured RB took up their option on him for 2025 early, keeping him at Red Bull’s sister team for what would make him the Faenza team’s longest-serving driver since they were bought by Red Bull.

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 current season. Although he appeared to gel well with the team, Hulkenberg elected to end his contract at the end of 2024 and join the Sauber outfit for next year as the Swiss team is gearing up its transition into Audi's works squad.

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.