Former Formula 1 driver turned television pundit Martin Brundle has expressed surprise at the early long-term deals for Charles Leclerc and Max Verstappen.
Leclerc has signed a new four-year deal taking him to the end of 2024 with Ferrari, whilst just last week, Verstappen signed a new three-year deal with Red Bull, securing his future until 2023.
The two drivers are considered to be future champions of the sport, therefore Brundle is surprised neither held out for longer to see whether an opportunity would arise at Mercedes and equally, why Mercedes hasn’t chased one of the two as a potential successor to Lewis Hamilton.
“The Verstappen news does makes my mind think ‘what’s going on at Mercedes’ short to medium term?” Brundle told Sky Sports F1.
“I really would have expected one of Verstappen or Leclerc to rock up at Mercedes.
“You’d have to look at it and think that Mercedes have got to be at least the equal-best car for another two or three years with the momentum they’ve got, so why hasn’t one of them signed up there?”
Brundle is unsure where this leaves Hamilton – whose current deal is expected to expire at the end of this year – but reckons Leclerc’s deal doesn’t necessarily mean Hamilton won’t end up at Ferrari.
“It leaves Lewis with reduced options, but he’s still holding a lot of aces,” added the Briton.
“It doesn’t stop the idea of a Hamilton-Leclerc line-up at Ferrari, but it has cut Lewis’ options down.
“If indeed he hasn’t already signed with Mercedes-Benz longer term. Maybe the music stopped before Christmas, they all sat down and there is some embedded news we haven’t heard yet.
“But these post-2020 deals have certainly happened earlier than I expected. I thought Max would see whether Red Bull could give him a championship-challenging car over the first few races of the year and then take a view.
“So something has crystalised that earlier, which again makes my mind wonder about what is going on elsewhere.”
It’s unlikely Verstappen will have signed on without certain promises, which could be guarantees that Christian Horner, Adrian Newey and Honda will stay on, or he could hold performance clauses, which would allow him to exit the contract earlier if he sees fit.
