Max Verstappen's deal with Red Bull runs until 2028, but a performance clause tucked inside it could hand him a way out as early as this season. Zak Brown has not hidden McLaren's stance — "what I couldn't offer him was a seat in my race car," the McLaren boss said — and yet the champion's camp is still weighing up its options with the team.
The balance is fragile. Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri have bought into the idea of an even split between team-mates, but Verstappen's win-at-all-costs streak could tear that philosophy apart.
The old guard, meanwhile, refuse to fade. Lewis Hamilton and Fernando Alonso keep pushing beyond the physical limits of the sport, holding their place at the front on mental strength alone.
Next comes the legendary Spa-Francorchamps, where the Eau Rouge sweep stays merciless in the wet. It remains, in Toto Wolff's words, "still a gladiators' sport" — a line that lands harder still against the backdrop of war in the Middle East. On the track or away from it, the calm is gone.
