Verstappen earns 'far from' wages of Hamilton and Vettel - Marko

Red Bull's Helmut Marko has confirmed that the finances in Max Verstappen's new contract are nowhere near that of Lewis Hamilton of Mercedes and Sebastian Vettel of Ferrari, following comments from Niki Lauda this week which confirmed the Silver Arrows did not approach the Dutchman.

Verstappen is one of the most talented drivers in the ranks of Formula One and already has three Grand Prix wins at the age of just 20. He recently signed a new contract with Red Bull after speculation that Mercedes were interested, but F1 legend and non-executive chairman of Mercedes, Lauda, told Marko that his team were never interested, even commenting that Red Bull perhaps are paying too much.

"We never offered him a contract," he said. "If we had talked before, you would have saved some money," Lauda reportedly said to Marko.

Marko went on to play down the amount of money being paid to Verstappen, insisting it was 'far from' the wages of Hamilton and Vettel, but did concede that if the young Dutchman continued to perform at the same high level, those high wages wouldn't be far away.

"We introduced him to our plans for the future. We guaranteed to him that our most senior people are committed until 2020, and that we have an alternative in terms of engine supply. That is no secret," said Marko.

“All this convinced him [to stay]. Of course he used the chance to get a salary rise. It’s within reason. He is far from what [Lewis] Hamilton or [Sebastian] Vettel. [are paid]."

"When he wins championships, he can reach that level [of pay]," he added.

"By Formula 1 standards, we are on a relatively low level in terms of fixed salary. But we have good bonuses."