The end of summer break sparks F1's silly season

Yachts, sunshine and proposals has been the theme of summer break for Formula one drivers this year. Charles Leclerc was pictured with his expecting wife in Italy, Max Verstappen was seen with his family enjoying the sea waters and George Russell announced his engagement to his long term partner Carmen Mundt. Whilst fans were eagerly awaiting any news regarding their contracts, the drivers very much seemed to have been enjoying a well deserved break off the grid. It wasn't until race week that everyone clocked back into work and silly season began again.

There were rumours and whispers around Carlos Sainz and whether or not he should renew his contract with Williams after a disappointing season this year so far. Many fans argued he deserves better but Carlos Sainz has decided that he is set to stay at Williams Racing. It was announced, he had signed a new multi year contract with the British racing team which is rumoured to be worth 30 million Euros.

There has been no leak on Alex Albon's salary as he has also announced a renewed contract with Williams Racing till 2027. Albon has often expressed frustration over the radio about the teams decisions and this years car alongside Carlos Sainz. However, James Vowles seems to have reminded his drivers of the teams long term goals and used some of his excellent language skills to keep both Sainz and Albon within the team.

Another driver who has been talk of the paddock is Max Verstappen. The Dutch driver has been a huge part of the discourse of whether he will retire, move series, join McLaren or Mercedes or stay at Red Bull. The Red Bull team took advantage of the chatters and shared a video on their social media of team principle Laurent Mekies staring at his computer in disbelief at an email subject which says 'Max Resigns'. 'It can't be right', Mekies says shaking his head. The camera pans out as Mekies then asks 'Max, does it look right to you?'. As the camera then shifts to Max Verstappen on his phone replying 'No, there's meant to be a hyphen in there'. Laurent Mekies then backspaces the text and corrects the e-mail subject to read 'Max Re-signs'. The comedic announcement of Verstappen staying within the Red Bull family perfectly shut down all the talk whilst acknowledging they were well aware of it all. His contract has been renewed till the year 2030 and is rumoured to be worth a whooping 92 million Euros.