Why Verstappen is 'keystone' to driver market - F1 Q&A

Why Verstappen is 'keystone' to driver market - F1 Q&AImage source, ReutersImage caption, Max Verstappen has spent his entire F1 career with Red Bull, joining the main team in 2016 after starting with the junior team Toro Rosso as a 17-year-old in 2015Published15 minutes agoCommentsIt's just over two weeks until the 2026 Formula 1 season resumes with the Miami Grand Prix, following the cancellations of the races in Bahrain and Saudi Arabia.BBC F1 correspondent Andrew Benson answers your latest questions.Of the drivers, whose contracts are up this year and who has something to prove? - ChristopherThis is a really tricky question to answer because Formula 1 teams have become increasingly secretive about the lengths of their driver contracts in recent years.However, some things are known for certain.The big one is Max Verstappen. He's the keystone of the driver market because he is regarded by everyone as the best out there.The four-time champion has a contract with Red Bull that runs until 2028. However, it has performance clauses in it, which mean he is free to leave the team if he is not in a certain position in the championship by a certain point of the season.The way Red Bull are performing at the moment, there is absolutely no chance that Verstappen will be high enough in the championship to lock him in by the summer break unless they have a massive turnaround in form.So, we can assume that Verstappen is a free agent this summer if he wants to be.The questions then would be: a) does he want to leave Red Bull; b) does he want to go to another F1 team and if so which one; and c) might he leave F1 and go and race elsewhere? In Japan, he confirmed he was considering the last option.If he wants to stay in F1, the obvious destination would be Mercedes. Team principal Toto Wolff has been courting Verstappen pretty openly for the past two years.However, both George Russell and Kimi Antonelli are said to have contracts that lock them in at Mercedes...