Max Verstappen has come full circle with his dominance in F1 after having won 19 races last season. In 2024, the Dutchman is still leading the championship but doesn’t have the fastest car anymore. As a result, he is on a winless streak of seven races — his longest since 2020. While the championship is on the line, Ralf Schumacher said that Verstappen is also losing money for not winning races.
Schumacher told Sky Sports Germany, “It is assumed that he loses a million for every race he doesn’t win. That is unbelievable. Last year, he was so successful and that is a lot of money that he is missing out on, in addition to the fact that things are no longer going well in sporting terms.”
After winning the Spanish GP in June, Verstappen hasn’t been able to finish better than second in any race. Even apart from the two P2 finishes in Silverstone and Zandvoort, he hasn’t scored any podiums as well since Barcelona.
A bit of a struggle. We’ve made changes throughout the day, but couldn’t optimise our pace. Let’s give it our all during the race @redbullracing #KeepPushing #AzerbaijanGP pic.twitter.com/E7JP2rQm6f
— Max Verstappen (@Max33Verstappen) September 14, 2024
As far as the losing money bit goes, Ralf’s claim may mostly be applicable to the bonus component of Verstappen’s contract with Red Bull. In 2023, the 26-year-old had a $45 million salary for the year and also earned $25 million in bonuses. This made him the highest-paid F1 driver with annual earnings of $70 million.
With no regular wins like last season, Verstappen may be losing out on the bonuses and thus his overall earnings this year may take a hit. With only seven races left, the Dutchman won’t certainly be able to match his tally of 19 wins from last year.
Moreover, his results may not improve until the US GP in Austin where Red Bull is bringing an upgrade to the RB20. The upcoming weekend in Singapore will be another stringent test for Verstappen as that track troubled Red Bull a lot last year too.
