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Signing Max Verstappen to a new long-term deal, Red Bull’s most expensive yet, Helmut Marko says he was “afraid” the Dutchman could be enticed to join another team.

Last season as he took the chequered flag to win the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix and his maiden World title, Verstappen declared that he “loved” Red Bull and would be happy to stay at the Milton Keynes squad for many years to come.

Less than three months later Red Bull announced that he had agreed to do just that.

The 24-year-old signed a five-year contract extension said to be worth a staggering £200m, doubling his 2021 earnings.

It is one that will keep him at Red Bull until the end of the 2028 season.

“We only had to change the years for the new contract,” Marko told FORMULE 1 Magazine.

Asked about Verstappen’s salary increase, he replied: “It seems normal to me that Max will earn more as World Champion.”

But is it the best contract ever as it was billed by some newspapers?

“I don’t know if that’s true,” said the Red Bull motorsport advisor, “because I don’t know [Lewis] Hamilton’s contract.”

What he did know, though, was that Red Bull potentially risked losing their World Champion to a rival team if they didn’t lock him into a big-bucks