Max Verstappen clinched his first victory in 2017 at the Malaysian Grand Prix on 1 October, Sunday. Ferrari and Mercedes both have their eyes on the Dutchman to bring him to their team.
He is currently with the Red Bull team and his contract will run down at the end of the next year. According to the Evening Standard, both the F1 teams will be looking forward to offering a £20million-a-year contract to the Red Bull driver.
In this case, Mercedes can have the maximum advantage as Verstappen's father, Jos Verstappen, former Formula One driver is a personal friend of Toto Wolff, the Mercedes boss.
While Jos is quite desperate to look for different options for his son, Christian Horner, the Team Principal of Red Bull is struggling to keep the Dutch driver in the team.
"We have some things to prove to Max that we are still the best team for him. We gave him his big break and he took it by winning his first race with us and now he has this brilliant win," Horner told Evening Standard.
Fernando Alonso, Lewis Hamilton and Sebastian Vettel earn a mammoth amount a year, making them the leading earners in F1. Verstappen, on the other hand, makes £5million-a-year with Red Bull.
However, if the Red Bull driver agrees to join Ferrari or Mercedes, he would become one of the richest drivers in the motorsports history. There could have been a different leader of 2017 drivers championship if the Dutch driver had allowed Vettel to overtake the British In Singapore.
Red Bull's Verstappen collided with two Ferrari drivers Kimi Räikkönen and Vettel at Marina Bay Street Circuit. However, it ruined Vettel's hope to become a leader of the championship and made the fifth grid driver Hamilton the winner of 2017 Singapore Grand Prix.
While coming back to the main attraction of Malaysian race, it was the rivalry between the British and the German, what fans were eagerly waiting to witness. But, the 20-year-old driver again stole the show from the two claimants of drivers championship.
Verstappen took over leader Hamilton on the fourth lap and maintained the lead till the end of the race. However, it was his second victory in F1 after 2016 Spanish Grand Prix.
On the other hand, the German driver Vettel had to face a rough time in Malaysia, as he had to deal with a power unit issues with his Ferrari and failed to clock time in the qualifiers.
While the Mercedes driver had that advantage to start from the pole position and gain a huge lead in the championship, the Dutch from Red Bull destroyed his plans as he did previously with the German driver in Singapore GP.
Hamilton, although, is leading the championship with two hundred eighty-one points, the British had to be satisfied with the second position in Malaysian GP. The next race is the Japanese Grand Prix, which will be on 8 October Sunday at Suzuka Circuit.
