Christian Horner already has Max Verstappen’s successor with four stars in the wings

has teased an early retirement from F1 when his contract comes to an end in 2028, and if the four-time world champion follows through on his claims then will need to find an able replacement on short notice.

Thankfully for the 51-year-old, ’s driver academy has a string of exciting talents waiting in the wings. The Milton Keynes squad’s internal talent pipeline has already nurtured the likes of Sebastian Vettel, and the aforementioned Verstappen into regular F1 race winners and is at the heart of the team’s F1 vision moving forward.

The most convincing successor for Verstappen is now an established F1 star. Liam Lawson will enter his first full season on the grid in 2024 and, despite struggling against his team-mate in the qualifying battle, has surpassed in the pecking order.

Despite his F1 career being in its infancy, Lawson is already showing the bite that has characterised Verstappen’s career. His elbows-out attitude placed him on the wrong side of and Fernando Alonso in 2024, and the New Zealander is not afraid to fight the four-time champion in 2025.

Tsunoda himself would be a viable future star. There is no doubt that he has the speed and consistency, having ruled the roost over team-mates Nyck de Vries and , but Helmut Marko and Horner have been reluctant to promote the Japanese racer thus far for reasons that seem to escape the 24-year-old.

In Isack Hadjar, have another star in the making. The Frenchman will arrive in F1 having narrowly missed out on claiming titles in both Formula Two and Formula Three, and while his temperament and penchant for radio outbursts have been raised as a concern, his four feature race wins in 2024 are a clear signal of intent.

Pepe Marti also hasn’t given up on reaching F1. There is no denying that his rookie F2 campaign was a disappointment after bursting onto the scenes with back-to-back podiums in round one, but his pedigree is clear.

The Spaniard will be looking to follow in Hadjar’s footsteps by fighting for the title in his sophomore year, and with Fernando Alonso’s A14 Management company fighting his corner, he will be dreaming of emulating Gabriel Bortoleto’s rise to F1.

Perhaps ’s most likely Verstappen successor is yet to burst into the public conscience. Arvid Lindblad only turned 17 in August, but Marko is already eyeing F1 opportunities for the young Brit, who scored four race wins in a memorable rookie F3 campaign.

Lindblad graduates into F2 in the coming year, and with Tsunoda heading into a critical year at , the pathway to F1 is there for the teenager. Earlier this season, Marko made it clear that he rates the Brit extremely highly. “We are delighted that he can now drive in Formula One again at 17,” he stated.