Max Verstappen signs new Red Bull contract until 2028

Verstappen won last year's title in controversial circumstances

World champion Max Verstappen has signed a new contract with Red Bull that lasts until the end of 2028.

Verstappen said: "I love this team and last year was simply incredible.

"Our goal since we came together in 2016 was to win the championship and we have done that. Now it's about keeping the number one on the car long term."

The new contract is said to be worth in the region of €40-50m (£33.3-41.7m) a year, which would make it among the most lucrative in F1 history.

Seven-time champion Lewis Hamilton is said to earn a salary of about £40m from Mercedes, before his many endorsements are taken into account.

Red Bull team principal Christian Horner said: "To have Max signed with Red Bull Racing through to the end of 2028 is a real statement of intent.

"Our immediate focus is on retaining Max's world championship title but this deal also shows he is a part of the team's long-term planning."

Red Bull enter a new era in 2022 following the departure of engine partner Honda from F1.

Red Bull have taken over the intellectual property for the engine and set up their own engine division on their campus in Milton Keynes.

The original plan had been for Red Bull to take over the manufacture of the engines from 2023 but motorsport adviser Helmut Marko said in an interview earlier this year that the engines would continue to come from Honda's R&D base in Japan until 2025, after which a new engine-design formula will come into force in F1.

In theory, Red Bull would have to build its own engines for the new era, when the engines will feature a greater proportion of their power from hybrid energy, and use fully sustainable, probably synthetic, fuels.

However, Red Bull have been strongly linked with the Volkswagen Group, which is expected to enter F1 from 2026 with either its Porsche or Audi brands.

Horner said: "With the Red Bull Powertrains division working towards the new engine regulations in 2026, we wanted to make sure we had the best driver on the grid secured for that car."

Verstappen's deal is a continuation of a trend for leading drivers in F1 to commit their futures to single teams for a long period.

Hamilton has been at Mercedes since 2013. Two years ago, Charles Leclerc signed for Ferrari until the end of 2025. And Lando Norris last month committed to McLaren until the end of 2025.

The thinking is that creating a stable environment and optimising working practices around a known and respected driver quantity is the best way to achieve success - a model most obviously pioneered by Michael Schumacher and Ferrari from 1996-2006.

During that period, the German became the most successful driver in F1 history, until Hamilton usurped him.