Max Verstappen is all but certain to get the chance to walkout on Red Bull this year as fresh details over an exit clause in his contract were revealed.
Last year, it emerged that Verstappen was free to quit the team if he was not inside the top-three of the drivers’ championship by the mid-season break.
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But The Race reports that the state of play for Verstappen at Red Bull is different this year.
According to the publication, Verstappen must now be inside the top two by the summer hiatus.
Given Vertstappen is currently ninth, 51 points behind second-place George Russell and unlikely to surge past both Mercedes and McLarens any time soon, making the top-two seems extremely unlikely.
The clause was thought to be put in place given Verstappen’s apprehension about the new regulations, and his want to assess the state of play before deciding what to do with his future.
A separate report from ESPN quotes F1 sources suggesting Verstappen is more likely to take an F1 sabbatical rather than retire altogether should he remain fed-up.
The Race report adds that there is nothing forcing Vertstappen from notifying Red Bull he will leave the team until October.
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The four-time world champion has suggested he could quit Formula One at the end of the season after enduring another frustrating race on Sunday in Japan.
The Red Bull driver finished eighth in Suzuka, ending his four-year reign as Japanese Grand Prix champion in ruthless fashion.
He told the BBC that he was “not enjoying the whole formula behind” this season’s championship, which has brought in sweeping new regulations.
“You just think about, is it worth it?” he said.
“Or do I enjoy being more at home with my family? Seeing my friends more when you’re not enjoying your sport?” Verstappen has repeatedly railed against the new regulations, that see a 50-50 split between conventional and electrical power.
He labelled his car “undriveable” after qualifying in a lowly 11th for the Japan race.
When asked if he could walk away from the sport, he replied that he was “thinking about everything inside this paddock”.
“It’s really anti-driving. Then at one point, yeah, it’s just not what I want to do,” he said.
“And of course you can look at it and make a lot of money. Great. “But at the end of the day it’s not about money any more because this has always been my passion.”
Verstappen sought a change of scenery by competing in a four-hour race in Germany before the Japanese Grand Prix.
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He will not compete again in F1 until the Miami Grand Prix on May 3, after the Bahrain and Saudi Arabia races scheduled for April were cancelled because of the war in the Middle East.
When asked how he would fill his time during the break, Verstappen answered: “I’ll do some more racing, some stuff that makes me smile.
“And at the same time speak to the team as well, to try and find more pace and some more stable balance because this is not sustainable for us as a team,” he added.
Verstappen is in ninth place in the championship standings, 60 points behind leader Kimi Antonelli of Mercedes after three races.
He finished sixth in the season opener in Australia and retired from the grand prix in China because of a cooling issue.
“I want to be here to have fun and have a great time and enjoy myself. At the moment that’s not really the case,” he said.
“I’m trying. I keep telling myself every day to try and enjoy it. It’s just very hard.”
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