The F1 paddock is buzzing with rumours about Max Verstappen’s future while Lewis Hamilton put himself at risk of a penalty with his actions at the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix
The final race weekend of this first triple-header of 2025 is here. The Saudi Arabian Grand Prix is the fifth round of the season and there has been plenty to talk about in the build-up to the race.
There’s no escaping the biggest story in the Formula 1 paddock right now – intense speculation over the future of Max Verstappen. He has a Red Bull contract until 2028 but it’s also known there are exit clauses within that deal which would allow him to leave if the performance of the team is not good enough.
And right now they are certainly not doing as well as the Dutchman would like them to be. Though Verstappen says he is happy at Red Bull for now, he has been clear in his dissatisfaction with their level of performance so far this season.
Could that lead to the Dutchman deciding to consider his options? Possibly. And Aston Martin seem to have already seen enough to try to test the waters, with Italian media reporting a £225million three-year contract offer is on the table to try to convince Verstappen to join.
Elsewhere, Lewis Hamilton has already been getting himself into trouble with Jeddah including a run-in with the stewards after a rival accused the Ferrari driver of a “dangerous” move on track. Mirror Sport has all the headlines:
READ MORE: George Russell shows true colours with comment on Lewis Hamilton’s Ferrari strugglesREAD MORE: New Sky Sports F1 pundit makes debut at Saudi Grand Prix in place of regular favourite
Verstappen subject of record-breaking offer
Aston Martin are said to be willing to smash the F1 record for a driver’s salary by offering to pay Verstappen £75million per year to convince him to quit Red Bull. And though they said it was just a rumour, the team failed to deny the accuracy of the reports from Italian news outlets.
Christian Horner insists he is confident that his star driver is going nowhere and that Verstappen will still be racing for Red Bull in 2026. But those exit clauses in his contract are said to become active this summer and so we could be in for a blockbuster transfer saga as the season progresses.
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Hamilton avoids Jeddah penalty
Hamilton wasn’t the most popular driver on track during Friday practice in Jeddah, particularly in the Williams garage. He managed to annoy both their drivers with first Carlos Sainz and then Alex Albon labelling the Brit’s actions on track as being “dangerous”.
The stewards let the first one go, despite Sainz having to back out of a lap after coming across the slow-moving Ferrari at a high-speed section of the track. They did investigate the second, which saw Albon have to take evasive action to avoid a collision, but determined after a hearing that no further action was necessary.
Aston Martin confirm Newey rumour
Another rumour swirling in the paddock recently suggested Adrian Newey wouldn’t have much of a say on Aston Martin’s 2025 car. And that has now been confirmed with team principal Andy Cowell telling reporters in Jeddah that the celebrated design guru is fully focused on their long-term plans.
“One hundred percent of Adrian’s designing time is focused on 2026,” he said. So it looks like another year of waiting for Fernando Alonso, who turns 44 in July and is running out of time to challenge for the title again in F1.
McLaren accused of failing Norris
Lando Norris has been brutally self-critical of late, particularly following his underwhelming performances in Bahrain last weekend. And Sky Sports pundit Jamie Chadwick, appearing for the first time in her new role as a regular for the broadcaster, thinks McLaren need to do more to support their driver.
“Why isn’t everyone around him telling him that? And why isn’t he telling himself that?” she asked on air in the Jeddah paddock. “Okay, we all make mistakes, but it’s this constant beating himself up every time that’s only going to get worse.”
