F1 2027 driver line-ups: latest contract news and rumours
Max Verstappen has re-committed to Red Bull but with series of other Formula 1 driver contracts set to expire, silly season could still see some moves: here are the agreed deals and rumours around the 2027 F1 driver line-ups
Grand Prix Photo
The best spots on the 2027 Formula 1 grid have been snapped up: Red Bull has confirmed that it will keep Max Verstappen and Isack Hadjar next year, which means that there will be no change in the 2027 driver line-ups at the four top F1 teams.
But silly season is far from over: speculation continues into which Formula 1 drivers will be driving for which midfield teams: it’s the time of year when rumours and discussions of driver changes, contract extensions and exit clauses have become just as synonymous with the sport as powertrains and tyre compounds.
Some drivers look at risk of being dropped, leaving a rare, coveted spot for rookies on the grid. And until Fernando Alonso confirms his future at Aston Martin, there’s still the prospect of a major change.
The past years have brought plenty of dramas: Lewis Hamilton‘s move to Ferrari; McLaren and Alpine fighting over Oscar Piastri; and a lngthy period of turmoil at Red Bull have meant that the driver market often makes just as many headlines as the racing itself. With that in mind, here’s everything we currently know about which drivers will be driving which cars in 2027. Click to jump to the confirmed 2027 F1 driver line-ups.
Max Verstappen remains at Red Bull
In recent weeks Max Verstappen ended months of speculation about his racing future by re-committing to Red Bull, signing a contract to race with the Formula 1 team until the end of 2030.
The four-time champion extended his previous deal, which ran to 2028 and was worth a reported $65m (£55.6m). The move closed off suggestions that he could jump to Mercedes or Aston Martin, and reduces the chances of any major driver changes during this year’s silly season.
There were doubts whether Verstappen even wanted to remain in F1, let alone at Red Bull, given his vocal complaints about this year’s new regulations and his foray into sports car racing. He compared the 2026 cars to Mario Kart, complaining that the racing was artificial. At the same time, this year’s Red Bull has been off the pace; inconsistent and difficult to set up.
The lack of performance meant that Verstappen could have activated exit clauses in his contract, but he said that remaining with Red Bull was always his intention, notwithstanding the lack of an obvious vacancy at any of the other top teams.
“To continue this journey with the same team that I have been with my whole career is really special and something I have always wanted to do,” he said.
Long-term contracts
The Formula 1 driver market has recently worked around one to two year deals, as both drivers and teams keep their options open, particularly around the recent regulation changes: drivers don’t want to get stuck with an underperforming team, while teams always want the fastest new talent in their cars.
The top drivers, however, are locking themselves in to longer-term, lucrative deals. Lando Norris recently signed a deal lasting until at least 2030 this year – with an option to continue well past then if both parties agree. Charles Leclerc has signed extended his existing Ferrari contract until the end of 2028 at least. Verstappen and Red Bull typically commit for several seasons, and this year, they inked a contract that runs until the end of 2030.
However, these don’t necessarily guarantee stability, with multiple clauses giving both driver and team the option to terminate the deal in certain circumstances — such as if performances don’t live up to expectations.
What else do we know about the 2027 driver market?
There have been several other signings in the last few months: Williams will retain both Alex Albon and Carlos Sainz next year.
The driver market could still deliver changes. Seven spaces remain unfilled on the 2027 grid, including at Aston Martin where Fernando Alonso is yet to decide on his plans. Elsewhere, a number of drivers are at risk of being dropped.
Below are the contracts in place for next season, and the latest rumours on who might fill the unconfirmed seats. Click on any team in the table below to jump to more information or scroll down for details on each team.
Confirmed 2027 F1 driver line-ups
| Team | Drivers |
| McLaren | Lando Norris (until 2030) Oscar Piastri (2028) |
| Ferrari | Charles Leclerc (multi-year beyond 2027) Lewis Hamilton (2027) |
| Red Bull | Max Verstappen (2030) Isack Hadjar (2027) |
| Mercedes | George Russell (2027) Kimi Antonelli (2027) |
| Aston Martin | Lance Stroll (rolling) TBC |
| Alpine | Pierre Gasly (2028) Franco Colapinto (2027) |
| Haas | TBC TBC |
| Racing Bulls | TBC TBC |
| Williams | Alex Albon (2027) Carlos Sainz (multi-year beyond 2027) |
| Audi | TBC TBC |
| Cadillac | Sergio Perez (2027) Valtteri Bottas (2027) |
2027 McLaren F1 driver line-up
The reigning constructors’ champions had a confirmed line-up for next season before this year even began: world champion Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri were both contracted beyond 2026 as they bid for a third consecutive constructors’ title, and Norris recently extended his contract to 2030
Lando Norris
Contract until 2030
The reigning world champion signed his extension in August 2026, and it’s the single longest commitment on the current grid alongside Verstappen’s. Norris is now nine years into his McLaren career, and a 2025 world title and back-to-back constructors’ championships make him an integral part of the team.
The Piastri partnership – even with the title fight of last year – remains one of the more functional team-mate relationships on the grid.
Oscar Piastri
Contract to 2028
Piastri’s deal runs two years shorter than Norris’, expiring at the end of 2028, and that puts their differing relationships into perspective. Piastri gets the standard-length contract, while Norris gets a little longer based on his success and tenure with the team.
Piastri lost the 2025 championship to Norris but did it while leading for a fair chunk of the season, but 2026 isn’t going as well – though he’s not been far off Norris at most rounds.
Regardless, McLaren isn’t looking for a replacement, with team boss Brown often saying he believes he has the best line-up on the grid. Still, Piastri is a hot property, so other teams will be watching that 2028 date rather closely.
2027 Mercedes F1 driver line-up
It was tipped to have the best engine and fastest car on the F1 grid in 2026; Mercedes did not disappoint. But the way in which Kimi Antonelli dominated the start of the season did come as a surprise: expect to see the internal battle for supremacy between the Italian and his team-mate George Russell continue into 2027.
Kimi Antonelli
Contract until 2027
Kimi Antonelli‘s rookie season showed flashes of brutal speed, but also contained the sort of mistakes you’d expect from an eighteen-year-old parachuted into a top team. Around mid-2025, Wolff’s prodigy was looking shaky, to say the least.
Fast-forward to 2026, and Antonelli has become one of the best drivers in the world. Toto Wolff’s very public, very expensive faith now looks like a fantastic decision, and, although there has been no grand announcement, it is understood that a deal is in place for 2027.
Keeping this year’s best driver in what’s currently the fastest car on the grid can’t have been be too hard – especially when you throw in the history of the team and driver.
George Russell
Contract until 2027
George Russell‘s current deal is a product of hedging on both sides: a multi-year agreement with only one season formally guaranteed, signed at a point when both Russell and Mercedes wanted to see how the Red Bull situation shook out before committing further. That extension clause got activated in June, with Mercedes leading the championship at the time, which made it an easy call.
The biggest threat to this happy relationship exists on the other side of the garage, with a young, charging Antonelli. If the new driver beats Russell to the title this year – and the form book and standings suggest he will – Russell’s forthcoming contract will almost certainly be looked at in a slightly different light.
2027 Red Bull F1 driver line-up
Has the series of departures from the once unassailable Red Bull finally taken its toll? The team has managed to develop an impressively powerful engine, but the rest of the package doesn’t match its established standards. Max Verstappen clearly thinks that the problems can be overcome, having extended his contract with the team.
Max Verstappen
Contract until 2030
Verstappen had a genuine exit clause tied to team performance, and for most of 2026 there was real reason to think he’d use it. In addition to a Red Bull that wasn’t quite up to the challenge of Mercedes, McLaren or even Ferrari at times – Verstappen wasn’t a fan of the rules either.
That’s all in the past now, though, because Verstappen has signed a new deal. It runs to the end of 2030, matching Norris’, and closes down a storyline that had looked increasingly likely to end somewhere else, with both Mercedes and Aston Martin linked at various points.
Verstappen has said he trusts Laurent Mekies’ direction and wants to be there when it turns around.
Isack Hadjar
Contract until 2027
Isack Hadjar has done something we rarely see at Red Bull: he’s driven the same car as Verstappen and not been totally left in the dust.
Red Bull confirmed that Hadjar will remain Verstappen’s team-mate for 2027, timing the announcement to coincide with his comeback at Baku after missing three races with a injured wrist. Team boss Laurent Mekies pointed to Hadjar’s rapid adaptation, work ethic and composure under pressure as the reasons behind the decision, calling it “an easy decision” given the Frenchman has been “superb on and off track” in just his second F1 season. The move keeps Red Bull’s driver line-up unchanged for 2027
2027 Ferrari F1 driver line-up
After decades of underachievement, Ferrari is midway through 2026 with a car that looks capable of challenging for the world championship and perhaps the strongest driver line-up of them all. No surprise that both drivers are set to continue in 2027.
Charles Leclerc
Multi-year contract beyond 2027
Leclerc’s extension was signed in early June, with an end date that most say is around 2028 – although that’s likely to have an option of extension, too.
Leclerc has already called 2026 a “now or never” year for his Ferrari future, and his recent two-year extension suggests that both Maranello and Leclerc know that they’re running out of time to fulfil their potential. Despite a rough Monza for the Monegasque, it’s likely Leclerc will remain with Maranello.
Lewis Hamilton
Contract until 2027
Lewis Hamilton’s deal runs out in 2027, when he’ll be 42, and for most of his difficult first Ferrari season that looked like it might be the natural full stop on the whole project. 2026 has made that view look very premature.
This year, Hamilton has been significantly closer to the form that saw him win seven championships and he’s also been one of the more consistent drivers on the grid – partly helped by the Ferrari’s reliability. Russell aside, Hamilton remains the closest challenger to Antonelli for a possible eighth title.
The biggest challenge is whether the Englishman can use his experience to turn Ferrari to winning ways – and how long that project will take.
2027 Williams F1 driver line-up
With private equity backing, a root-and-branch restructure, and a long-held focus on the 2026 season, hopes were high for Williams this year. Although the car hasn’t delivered, both its current drivers will stay on in 2027.
Alex Albon
Contract until 2027
Albon’s stuck with Williams through four seasons that haven’t been easy, but it’s now confirmed him for 2027 regardless, which settles a question that had been open for a while.
Incredibly, Albon is now Williams’ most-started driver in history ahead of Nigel Mansell, and he reached his 100th start for the team in Budapest. The deal itself is only one year, though.
Albon has signed a one-year contract, however, meaning his future will be a topic again in 2027.
Carlos Sainz
Multi-year contract beyond 2027
Williams announced Sainz’s new deal the day after Albon’s, but where his team-mate gets one more year, Sainz gets a proper multi-year commitment running to at least 2028. That’s despite a first half of 2026 rocky enough that Sainz himself questioned the project publicly.
What tipped it, by most reads, was the lack of any other options – and Grove, for all its recent struggles – is still building towards something.
2027 Racing Bulls F1 driver line-up
Both drivers in Red Bull’s second team are making their case for promotion to the senior squad, so it would be no surprise if Racing Bulls gave them both another year to push for promotion.
TBC
Currently Liam Lawson
Liam Lawson has done well alongside a highly rated rookie in Arvid Lindblad, which should be more than enough to secure a 2027 extension when it’s finally made official. The bigger prize for Lawson isn’t Racing Bulls at all, though – it’s being first in line whenever a Red Bull seat actually opens up.
Lawson is doing a decent job filling in for the injured Hadjar in the Red Bull, but it’s likely he’ll stay with the Racing Bulls next year.
TBC
Currently Arvid Lindblad
Arvid Lindblad‘s one-year rookie deal was rather stingy, but he’s already proven himself. Despite his age, he’s pretty much matched Lawson’s pace from the start – which is exactly what Red Bull wanted to see. That puts him in a good position heading into 2027 and into an extension that should, on merit, be a formality.
2027 Aston Martin F1 driver line-up
Without a doubt, Aston Martin has been F1’s worst team in the first half of the 2026 season, and that’s saying something given that Cadillac was brand new on the grid. There are signs that it could be turning the story around though – with major implications for its driver line-up.
TBC
Currently Fernando Alonso
Fernando Alonso has said his Aston Martin contract runs beyond his racing career, which is probably not far off accurate. He’s 45, comfortably the oldest driver on the grid, and although he could soon be an ambassador for the brand, he’s showing no signs of slowing down.
If the car improves, Alonso will almost certainly extract everything out of it. If it doesn’t, the more interesting question is whether Alonso stays. If he doesn’t, Aston Martin will need to look elsewhere – and most of the top names are already accounted for.
Lance Stroll
Rolling contract
Lance Stroll‘s situation remains the least dramatic on the entire grid, because it was never really a contract question to begin with.
Being Lawrence Stroll’s son, Lance is set to race for Aston Martin for exactly as long as both of them want that to continue. That’s been the case since 2019 and nothing about the car’s competitiveness – or the driver’s – will change that.
2027 Haas F1 driver line-up
There’s a sizeable performance gap between Haas’s drivers in 2026 which looks likely to lead to at least one change at the team.
TBC
Currently Oliver Bearman
Oliver Bearman is officially a Ferrari junior with nowhere obvious to go. Last year, Hamilton’s form probably gave Bearman hope, but now that the seven-time world champion is back to his best, the young Englishman’s options are looking more limited – and significantly longer term.
Realistically, that means another year at Haas. What makes it interesting is how good that year is likely to be: he’s comprehensively outperformed team-mate Esteban Ocon across qualifying, racing and the championship table in 2026, and that sets him up for a strong CV if he wants to go elsewhere. Aston Martin could come calling whenever Alonso decides to stop.
TBC
Currently Esteban Ocon
Esteban Ocon‘s third year at Haas hasn’t been great, with 2026 seeing him well behind Bearman. He still has the experience, and on his day the pace – but there are still rumours Haas has been looking elsewhere.
2027 Audi F1 driver line-up
Audi arrived in Formula 1 this year with a long-term plan that extended to its drivers too. The experience of Nico Hülkenberg and the raw potential of Gabriel Bortoleto was proven last year with Sauber and look set to be continued next year.
TBC
Currently Nico Hülkenberg
Nico Hülkenberg‘s role here has never really been about lap time alone – it’s about being a source of experience for a brand-new manufacturer programme. His deal runs multi-year, and short of a shock exit from Formula 1 (although Audi has done this in other motorsport series), there’s no obvious scenario where the German is not in an Audi in 2027.
TBC
Currently Gabriel Bortoleto
Gabriel Bortoleto arrived with serious junior pedigree and Audi’s backing already attached, and he’s settled into F1 quickly enough that 2026 has him running around Hülkenberg’s level – not bad at all for a rookie.
Audi’s plan was always to build around him long-term rather than treat him as a stopgap, and nothing this year has given it a reason to reconsider that.
2027 Alpine F1 driver line-up
Last year’s laggards have become solid performers in 2026, but are both of Alpine’s F1 drivers capable of moving the team up to the next level?
Pierre Gasly
Contract to 2028
Pierre Gasly signed through to 2028 in the middle of a genuinely troubled 2025, which at the time looked like either real conviction from Alpine or a fairly large leap of faith.
Either way, it made him the foundation the team is building its regulatory transition around. 2026 has started noticeably stronger with a Mercedes power unit in the back of the car, and Gasly’s recent performance in Monza has underlined his performance – and the car’s.
Franco Colapinto
Contract through 2027
Franco Colapinto‘s 2026 seat was won by the narrowest of margins – he was the only full-season driver without a single point in 2025, and he only just held off reserve driver Paul Aron on factors that weren’t purely about pace.
Alpine gave him the benefit of the doubt anyway, and he’s paid it back: a genuinely strong first half of 2026 has been enough to convince the team to extend his contract alongside Gasly’s for 2027.
2027 Cadillac F1 driver line-up
Sergio Perez
Contracted to 2027
Sergio Perez‘s return to the grid with Cadillac is all about helping the team get to the front. His multi-year deal gives him security through 2027 while the team builds its organisational foundations from scratch. What happens after that depends less on Pérez himself than on how quickly Cadillac, and American reserve driver Colton Herta develop.
Valtteri Bottas
Contract to 2027
Valtteri Bottas’ return solves a practical problem for Cadillac: he’s dependable and has real knowledge of how Formula 1 works, especially due to his stints at Williams and Mercedes. Like Pérez, he’s got multi-year security.