Verstappen Archives

Max Verstappen: Formula 1 world champion agrees new long-term deal with Red Bull

March 12, 2022 Bella

Max Verstappen’s new deal, which is expected to be announced by the end of the week, will take him close to his 30th birthday and net him around £40m a year, putting him on par with Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton; world champion begins title defence in Bahrain on March 20

Last Updated: 03/03/22 6:17am

Formula 1 world champion Max Verstappen has agreed a new multi-year contract with Red Bull with a signing announcement expected before the end of the week, Sky Sports News understands.

The new agreement will take the 24-year-old close to his 30th birthday and earn him just over £40m a year, putting him on par with Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton.

Verstappen claimed his first world championship title in 2021 after edging out seven-time champion Hamilton in a controversial finish at the season-ending Abu Dhabi Grand Prix in December.

The Dutchman, whose current deal with Red Bull expires in 2023, will begin his title defence on March 20 when the 2022 season gets under way in Bahrain.

Verstappen’s new contract will prevent Mercedes from targeting him as a replacement for Lewis Hamilton should the Briton retire at the end of his current deal in 2023.

Don’t miss Duel on Sky Sports!

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From the amazing battles to that finale and the controversial aftermath, get ready for the Sky Original ‘Duel: Hamilton vs Verstappen’ airing this Saturday

The story of Verstappen and Hamilton’s fascinating title tussle last season will be charted in an original two-part Sky Sports documentary airing on Sky Sports Main

Qatar GP: Max Verstappen says he ‘never gets presents’ from F1 stewards after penalty as he focuses on final races

November 26, 2021 Bella

With his title lead over Lewis Hamilton down to eight points from 21 just over a week ago, Max Verstappen says Red Bull will “just try to be better, and come back strong” for debut event in Jeddah; Outside chance for Verstappen to wrap up title next week to avoid final-round decider

By James Galloway

Last Updated: 23/11/21 10:24am

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Red Bull’s Max Verstappen is pleased with finishing second at the Qatar GP after being given a five-place grid penalty for the race.

Max Verstappen says Red Bull will focus on trying to come back stronger to hit back against Mercedes at next week’s Saudi Arabian GP after a second successive defeat by Lewis Hamilton.

Meanwhile, the Dutchman said “I never get presents from them” in reference to the stewards after he was handed a five-place grid penalty ahead of Sunday’s race for failing to slow sufficiently for double-waved yellow flags at the end of qualifying.

Impressively recovering to second place in the race behind runaway winner Lewis Hamilton and now holding an advantage of just eight points ahead of his Mercedes driver with 52 to play for over the season’s concluding double-header, Verstappen said: “It’s exciting.

“I would of course have liked to make it a bigger gap, but when you don’t have the pace, it’s impossible to do that, so we’ll just try to be better, and come back strong, especially in Saudi on the street track, and then yeah, we’ll see in Abu Dhabi.”

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Paul di Resta was at the SkyPad to analyse why Max

Mexico City GP: Max Verstappen takes runaway victory ahead of Lewis Hamilton to grow F1 title lead

November 10, 2021 Bella

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Relive how Red Bull’s Max Verstappen took the lead of the Mexico City GP, with Valtteri Bottas sent spinning back from pole

Max Verstappen secured a dominant win in the Mexico City GP to take a potentially significant step in his quest to end Lewis Hamilton’s reign as world champion, opening his title lead to 19 points with four races left.

Hamilton just held off Mexico’s own Sergio Perez, Verstappen’s team-mate, for second place against a clearly-faster race car but first and third still represented a big comeback result for Red Bull after they were surprisingly outqualified by Mercedes.

Verstappen made light work of the Valtteri Bottas-Hamilton front row by impressively slipstreaming past both on an outside line at the start, decisively claiming a lead he never relinquished outside of the pit stops.

He won by 16.5s for a record third victory in Mexico and a ninth of a 2021 season where the momentum increasingly looks to be with the 24-year-old Dutchman in his engrossing fight with Hamilton for the drivers’ crown.

“You just have to congratulate Red Bull because their pace was on another level,” said Mercedes boss Toto Wolff to Sky F1. “In the end for Lewis’ championship, it was damage limitation.”

Hamilton said: “Congratulations to Max, their car is far superior this weekend and there was nothing we could really do about it.”

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A closer look at a dramatic start to the Mexico City Grand Prix as Max Verstappen overtook both Mercedes drivers

A closer look at a dramatic start to the Mexico City Grand