Continuing the Max Verstappen future discussions, reports are emerging that Red Bull has offered the Dutchman a significant pay rise in order to secure him.
According to BILD, Red Bull has put a new contract on the table for Verstappen. In exchange for a massive pay jump, he would be contracted through to 2029.
The four-time world champion has been the consistent story since Austria. With each weekend revealing more rumours and thoughts regarding his contract and future in F1.
Despite the fact he’s contracted to drive for the Milton Keynes team till 2028, it hasn’t prevented rumours of Verstappen going to Mercedes or McLaren as the season has gone on.
These haven’t been helped by the knowledge of the Dutchman’s performance clauses in his contract, which state he’s free to leave the team at the end of the current season if he’s not still inside the top two of the drivers’ standings by the summer break.
Initially, there were reports that Toto Wolff was looking into acquiring the Dutchman. Then there were reports suggesting McLaren would offer a straight swap between him and Piastri.
Though Verstappen initially denied the rumours, he also didn’t confirm he was staying with Red Bull.
After the Hungarian Grand Prix, the Dutchman sits down in sixth with over 100 points separating him from championship leader Kimi Antonelli.
More developments
However, according to the German publication BILD, Verstappen’s performance clause has automatically been activated. They stated that he has until October to confirm his plans for the coming seasons.
This has reportedly led to Red Bull offering Verstappen a new deal that would secure him until 2029. It would give the four-time World Champion a significant pay rise and, in turn, remove the performance clause from the contract.
Verstappen’s manager told Austria’s OE24 that Verstappen intends to see out his current Red Bull deal.
“There’s a lot being written about it,” Vermeulen said.
“But the truth is, Max wants to finish his time with Red Bull. He has a contract until 2028 and would like to fulfil it.
“The fact that this clause exists doesn’t mean we’ll activate it. We could have activated it in recent years as well, and we haven’t.”
The Dutchman added a similar commitment to the team at the Hungarian Grand Prix weekend when he told media including Motorsport Week, “This team is like a second family to me. I’m just trying to understand our car a bit better and get back to winning ways.
“We’ve been close one weekend. I hope it was a little bit more often than just one weekend. But as I said before, it’s definitely on an upward trend. So that’s good to see.”
While his future remains uncertain and up for debate, it’s not surprising that the four-time World Champion has no shortage of options.
READ MORE: Ex-Red Bull junior makes bold Max Verstappen F1 exit claim
Discussion about this post