Max Verstappen has signed a lucrative new contract, reported to be worth £40 million per year, to stay at Red Bull beyond 2023.
After winning the championship last year, Verstappen said he wanted to stay with Red Bull for life. He and the team have now committed to a new deal that will take him beyond his existing contract that ran until the end of 2023.
The deal ends any speculation that Verstappen, 24, might switch teams in the near future, although the prospect of the Dutch driver leaving Red Bull had seemed increasingly unlikely over recent seasons.
According to the Daily Mail and Dutch publication De Telegraaf, Verstappen’s deal is worth around £40 million ($53.3 million).
The deal moves Verstappen to the top end of F1’s earning list, with British media previously reporting Lewis Hamilton’s contract is worth around £40 million a year.
Red Bull recently secured a huge financial boost from new title sponsor Oracle, signing a five-year $500 million deal — one of the most lucrative sponsorship agreements in sports.