Max Verstappen will be driving for Red Bull Racing for at least the next six years, after signing a new contract with the team who he won the drivers' World Championship with.
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Verstappen previously had a deal taking him up to the end of 2023, but according to reports the world champion is now set to be with his team until beyond his 30th birthday.
The Dutchman is only 24-year-old and won't turn 30 until September 2027, suggesting that the contract will keep him with the team until the end of that year.
The Daily Mail claim that the details of the deal were agreed during testing in Barcelona last week, ahead of the 2022 season starting in just over two weeks time, and then signed at the team's base in Milton Keynes on Monday.
That report says that Verstappen will be on around £40 million, putting him in the same earning 'bracket' as rival Lewis Hamilton, who has two years to run on his Mercedes deal.
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However, Dutch outlet De Telegraaf claim that Verstappen's deal would actually surpass the British driver, and make him Formula One's highest ever paid driver.
It is thought that negotiations involving the world champion, team principal Christian Horner, and Red Bull billionaire owner Dietrich Mateschitz weren't tough.
The team would have been desperate to keep hold of the champion, who is still very young and his talents can only improve, and were happy to offer him plenty.
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The deal will also keep him out of Mercedes grasps, with Totto Wolf previously interested in signing Verstappen in the future, potentially when Hamilton retires.
There was talk of the seven time world champion retiring after the dramatic final lap loss of the title last year, which allowed his rival to claim his first win.
The former McLaren driver will be nearly 40 when his current deal runs out and Mercedes will certainly want the best in the world, whilst also hoping Hamilton's new teammate George Russell can reach those levels.
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The German team's chances of signing Verstappen are thought to have ended at last year's British Grand Prix at Silverstone, when the relationship between the driver and Wolf broke down.
Verstappen and Hamilton were involved in a crash, thought by many to be the Englishman's fault, and the Dutchman was annoyed at Mercedes for how much they celebrated, whilst he was in hospital for checks following the high speed incident.
Haas driver Nikita Mazepin won't be allowed to race at Silverstone this year, and it's expected that the team may well dump the Russian driver ahead of the season starting.
Topics: Formula 1, Lewis Hamilton, Max Verstappen
Ryan Sidle