As the youngest F1 driver at just 17 years old, Max Verstappen owns a fortune worth tens of millions of dollars.
Max Verstappen’s F1 career started before he was even old enough to drive in certain countries. He was the youngest F1 driver at 17, the youngest Grand Prix winner at 18 and the first Dutch world champion at 24.
During this time, he has accumulated a fortune of tens of millions of dollars through salaries, bonuses and sponsorships. According to Forbes, Verstappen is the second highest-paid racing driver behind Lewis Hamilton, and the 27th highest-earning sports athlete in 2021 (earnings of $42.5 million).
Earlier this year, Verstappen signed a 7-year contract extension at Red Bull with an annual salary of $50 million excluding bonuses. Let’s see what he used this money for:
Rent an apartment worth 16 million USD
One day after his 18th birthday, Verstappen moved to Monaco, a paradise for the rich. But he hasn’t bought real estate yet, just rented a $16 million apartment on the 8th floor overlooking the Mediterranean. He often posts videos about his workout process on the large balcony that doubles as the gym, sometimes jogging around one of the most prestigious neighborhoods in the world.
Even far from home, Verstappen is still surrounded by some familiar faces. Many fellow racing drivers such as Lewis Hamilton, Daniel Ricciardo and most recently Lando Norris also have properties in Monaco. According to reports, Verstappen lives in Fontvieille, the southernmost district of Monaco, right next to the sea and the Monaco helipad.
Luxury car collection
It’s no surprise that Verstappen wants to drive the best cars both on and off the track. At just 24 years old, he already owns an enviable European car collection worth about $6.4 million.
The first car was a gift from his parents: a yellow Renault Clio, which today costs between $13,000 and $24,000. The first car purchase was a Renault R. S. 01 (400,000 USD) in 2015, followed by a Porsche 911 GT3 RS (400,000 USD) as a gift to himself after winning his first race in 2016.
In an interview with Top Gear magazine, he only said the reason he doesn’t buy very famous cars is because “the insurance bill is too high”.
Since 2019, Verstappen has owned 4 Aston Martins. First up is the DB11 – the street-legal version of the DB10 driven by Daniel Craig’s James Bond in Spectre. Worth about $205,000, the car has orange stitched seats and orange brake calipers, perhaps a reminder of its homeland, the Netherlands.
Next, he bought a 2018 Vantage ($150,000) and a DBS Superleggera powered by a V12 engine ($360,000) before buying the Valkyrie supercar, a collaboration between Aston Martin-Red Bull, worth about 2.7 million. USD.
Up to now, one of Red Bull’s biggest rivals on the F1 race is Ferrari. But Max Verstappen seemed to “fall” before the beauty of “Prancing Horse”. He owns a Ferrari 488 Pista ($331,000) that can reach 100 km/h in just 2.85 seconds and an extremely unique Ferrari Monza SP2 worth $1.8 million.
To complete his increasingly rich collection, he also owns a car manufactured by another competitor: Mercedes-Benz C63 S AMG, worth a relatively modest 78,000 USD.
Other speed machines
With a home right next to the sea, it’s no surprise that Verstappen is often spotted in the water. Sometimes, he can be seen enjoying the Mediterranean sea on his custom-made Red Bull jet ski. This jet ski has a price ranging from 5,700 to 20,000 USD. Because it is a private version, Verstappen’s car can be much higher than this.
When he’s at home, he’s often next to a SimRacer machine “that no one is allowed to get close to” (he admitted in an interview with G-Star Raw). This is a high-end racing simulator that costs thousands of dollars, even more if the buyer is Verstappen, with a Playseat F1 Ultimate cockpit ($2,800), LM-Pro steering wheel custom-made by Precision Sim Engineering ($1,800), Heusinkveld Ultimate pedals ($1,100), and Leo Bodnar SimSteering steering system ($4,000). The whole set costs from $15,000 to more than $35,000.
Leaving aside expensive speed machines, Verstappen sometimes lives slowly by exploring Monaco with a custom-made Xiaomi M365 scooter that has a maximum speed of about 26 km/h, and has a much more modest price. , from 499 to 599 USD.
Private plane
The 2022 F1 racing schedule is the busiest to date, with 23 Grand Prix races held across 5 continents from March to November. Therefore, the world champion must be very happy to have bought the Dassault Falcon 900EX aircraft in 2020 from Virgin Galactic, which once belonged to profligate billionaire Richard Branson. The plane also has a custom exterior, with a matte finish and the Verstappen logo of a lion – the national animal of the Netherlands – on the tail.
Built in 2008, this aircraft is valued at about 15 million USD, with annual maintenance costs estimated at more than 1 million USD. The one Verstappen used was the EX variant which is a long-range aircraft, with a glass flight deck, bar and shower. Not including the cockpit, the cabin is about 12 meters long and 1.88 meters high, and can comfortably accommodate 12 passengers, fewer if the seats are adjusted into beds.
The plane not only takes Verstappen to F1 events, but sometimes also family, friends, sometimes even former Red Bull teammate Daniel Ricciardo (they reportedly live in the same building in Monaco). . The plane even has its own fan page on Twitter!
Vacation with family
For Verstappen, vacation is about “doing fun things with friends and family”. During his recent break between seasons, Verstappen spent time in Brazil with girlfriend Kelly Piquet’s family before heading to Miami. Soon after, he went to Austria to attend an exhibition at the GP Ice Race, and spent some time helicoptering over the Alps, which can cost about $1,800 per hour.
Precious cat
In August 2021, Max Verstappen welcomed new roommates: Two Bengal cats occasionally appear on his Instagram. This cat breed is one of the most expensive in the world, with each cat costing an average of $1,500 to $3,000. Raising costs are also extremely expensive.
The two “bosses” are named Jimmy and Sass, after two famous Monaco places, Jimmy’z Monte-Carlo and Sass Café. However, when his pets kept playing around the pedals while he played racing at home, in a video shared on YouTube, Verstappen jokingly called them Lewis and Toto – after the team’s rivals. Mercedes are Lewis Hamilton and Toto Wolff. Since then, these nicknames have also become a joke among fans.
Dating
When asked by a fan what is the best online item he has ever bought, Verstappen replied humorously: “My girlfriend.” Kelly Piquet is a famous model who often appears at racing events as her father is three-time F1 world champion Nelson Piquet and her mother is a former model from the Netherlands.
Piquet has a stepdaughter called Penelope, with Russian racing driver Daniil Kvyat. They broke up in 2019. In October 2020, she started dating Verstappen, publicly announcing on January 1, 2021 on the F1 driver’s Instagram account: “Wishing you all success, finding love.” love and happiness like me”.
