Is Red Bull Ready for Max Verstappen's Departure?

Max Verstappen has been an integral part of the Red Bull ecosystem since he was 17 years old. The team had kept a close eye on his racing career until then and believed that he would be the next big thing in F1. And they weren’t wrong.

After being brought up into Toro Rosso and quickly moved to the main team, Verstappen made a splash in the paddock. Red Bull has built the car around him for year now. It’s a style that his teammates haven’t always been able to gel with. His feedback and his driving, however, has helped the team take multiple drivers’ and constructors’ championships.

There’s no doubt that Verstappen has been the lead driver in that team. He’s the Red Bull driver who has been the most consistent against his teammates, who manages surprise results with the car. He’s the driver that the team knows it can depend on to bring results at crucial points.

Max Verstappen will not stay in Formula One forever. The four-time world champion has been open about discussing his plans for the future, including how he doesn’t want to be racing into his 40s. Verstappen is conscious of the time he spends away from home instead of with his one-year-old daughter, Lily.

It's amazing. You really try to spend as much time in between races at home. It's super important to be there as much as you can, to see them grow.
- Max Verstappen

But it isn’t just missing out on key moments with friends and family that Verstappen has cited as a reason to leave the sport sooner rather than later. The increasing number of races on the calendar isn’t something Verstappen has enjoyed. And then there’s the fact that he has not enjoyed the new regulations that have were introduced this year.

Verstappen is a pure race driver, through and through however, he feels like these regulation don’t promote real racing. Drivers are now more concerned about energy harvesting and deployment, and for Verstappen, that’s taking away from what he loves about Formula One.

Verstappen’s venture outside of F1 have only highlighted his unhappiness with the regulations. His sim racing team, Team Redline, has been something he’s committed a lot of time to over the years, even during race weekends. More recently, he’s been taking part in endurance racing, enjoying the challenges that it brings. And with a less intense calendar and regulations that might be more enjoyable, it wouldn’t be a surprise to see him want to fully commit to the series in the future.

The question is, is Red Bull ready for whenever Max Verstappen leaves?

It’s been clear that they have struggled with their junior team in recent years. There have been hopeful young drivers who were pushed too soon, and their stars quickly burnt out.

Second drivers at Red Bull don’t historically have the best luck. They don’t last long in the seat and they leave with their spirit a little broken. They’re kicked out if they can’t adjust to the car and get similar results to Verstappen.

The problem is that no one has the same experience with the team as Max does. No driver can understand and control that car in the same way he does. And that issue has reared its head in more recent years where a competitive teammate would have helped battles for wins, podiums and championship battles.

There seems to be more hope with the junior drivers who’ve been promoted lately. Isack Hadjar was promoted to Red Bull after his rookie season and so far, he’s handling the pressure well. The performance might not be at the same level as Verstappen, but Hadjar is proving that he can learn on the job whilst bringing in a steady set of results.

Arvid Lindblad was only promoted into F1 this year. He’s a driver that Red Bull has put a lot of stock into. They quickly pulled him through the feeder series and asked for special dispensation to get his super license early. He’s clearly a driver that Red Bull potentially sees as the future. So far, in the first few races of the season, he’s proving them right. There have been some good results from the rookie without too many incidents along the way.

So maybe this is the turning point for the team with its younger drivers. The lack of experience is an issue, though. They won’t be able to give the same type of feedback that a more experienced driver would. They haven’t had the experience of battling in a championship. And those are things that cost the team.

There’s always the option of bringing in a driver from a different team, like they had done with Sergio Perez. But that isn’t a surefire way to success. It can take time for a driver to get used to a new team and the specifics of an unfamiliar car. And sometimes, they find that they just can’t adjust their driving style to suit the team.

Max Verstappen’s retirement from F1 probably isn’t happening anytime soon, but it’s fair to say that the team probably doesn’t have another ten to fifteen years to figure this out. They need to figure out what their succession plan is. What a future without Max Verstappen at the helm will look like. Because no one, not even Red Bull, is sure of how much longer he wants to stay in the sport. And if the team doesn’t want to be starting back from ground zero when he leaves, they need to start putting plans into place.