F1 Today | Verstappen stays and Hamilton describes a near death experience

GPblog has learned Max Verstappen will stay at Red Bull for the 2025 season, despite recent rumours that the Dutchman considered Mercedes for next year. The internal turmoil at Alpine has continued as they sack yet another key team member. Lewis Hamilton has also opened up about a near-death experience where he 'thought it was over'.

GPblog has learned that Max Verstappen will not be switching to the Silver Arrows in 2025. Despite the possible turmoil behind the scenes at Red Bull Racing, Verstappen has decided to stay. The three-time world champion's contract runs until 2028, and certain clauses will not allow the Dutchman to leave earlier. Although, Horner would not stand in the way of his departure. Toto Wolff has repeatedly expressed his desire to bring Verstappen to Mercedes, and despite their disappointing on-track performance, it looked like they were going to be successful. The Mercedes door will remain open for 2026, but Verstappen will stay at championship contender Red Bull for the foreseeable future.

Alpine has sacked operating director Rob White in another shock staff reshuffle. White has worked for the Renault team since 2004 and was deputy director at the Viry-Chatillon engine division when they won two world titles with Fernando Alonso in 2005 and 2006. He moved to the Enstone base in 2016 and has been the operating director since then. Since last summer, team principal Otmar Szafnauer, sporting director Alan Permane, technical director Matt Harman and head of aerodynamics Dirk de Beer have the team.

On the First We Feast YouTube channel, Lewis Hamilton has opened up about a near-death experience he had while surfing. During the video, Hamilton spoke about a time he went surfing with professional surfer Kelly Slater. His board snapped in half and he nearly drowned in what he describes as a 'kill zone'. The 103-time Grand Prix-winning thrill seeker said that this scary moment made him respect surfers even more than he already did.