Mercedes will reportedly table reigning F1 champion Max Verstappen a staggering €150m ($A245m) per season offer in a bombshell bid to poach the Red Bull star from 2025.
OE24 claims the €150m per-year offer includes bonuses, but would still shatter Formula One pay records.
It is more than double Verstappen’s current salary at Red Bull, believed to be around $55m USD ($A84m).
Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton currently earns an estimated $45m USD ($A69m) per season, but that is set to rise drastically when he moves to Ferrari in 2025.
His pay is reportedly set to be as high as $87-100m USD ($A133-152m) per season at Ferrari, though investment into Hamilton’s Mission 44 organisation and other bonuses take the total value of the deal far higher.
The report claims that Verstappen will meet with Mercedes at the upcoming Miami Grand Prix this weekend, and that Mercedes are also hoping to bring across senior Red Bull adviser Helmut Marko – the 80-year-old who has overseen the team’s junior driver program since the team was founded in 2005.
Marko has a close relationship with Verstappen but his future at Red Bull has been under a cloud following the messy drama surrounding team boss Christian Horner that raised tensions within the champion team.
Verstappen said earlier this season that his own future at Red Bull depended on Marko remaining with the team, telling Sky F1: “For me, Helmut is a very key factor in that and he has to stay for me, for sure.”
Not only would signing Marko be a major coup for Mercedes given his wealth of knowledge and experience in the sport, but it could prove decisive in their bid to convince Verstappen to defect from the team where he has won three consecutive titles – and looks set to add a fourth this campaign.
Meanwhile, Mercedes have been named as one of a host of F1 teams hoping to sign Red Bull’s technical wizard Adrian Newey.
Newey is one of the most highly respected engineers in the sport who played a key role in designing Red Bull cars that delivered seven drivers’ titles and six constructors’ titles.
Despite being under contract for several years, Newey will apparently be free to depart the team at the end of 2024, with rival heavyweight teams lining up to hire him.
However, according to reports, Newey has already rejected Aston Martin.
Peter Windsor, a former F1 team manager turned journalist, indicated on his YouTube channel that Ferrari, Mercedes, and Aston Martin would all want Adrian Newey.
“My understanding is that Aramco [Aston Martin’s title sponsors] and Aston have already offered him a large sum of money, which he has turned away. That is my understanding of the Aston issue.
It means that Mercedes, after losing their biggest star, Lewis Hamilton, might counter by signing three of Red Bull’s most recognized drivers.
