In the world of Formula One money talks and teams are prepared to buy their way to success, the best drivers on the grid can easily command $30m per season. Max Verstappen is one such driver being primed for future world championship glory and the money is beginning to do the talking. However, he is contracted to Red Bull Racing but so highly valued is Verstappen, a relative rookie, that there are rumors of him being sold to the highest bidder. Verstappen is no slave, slaves don’t earn millions of pounds per year, and if the 19-year-old does want his “freedom” then RedBull are going to have to sacrifice Verstappen’s current “firm” contract. It is not uncommon for one F1 team to raid another for the purposes of securing racing talent. When it does happen both teams agree a compensatory fee for the breaking of a contract, usually in the millions. However, Max Verstappen is hot property and his team boss has indicated that he is prepared to listen to offers in the region of $100m to break his current contract with Red Bull. That’s $100m just to release him from his contract. Actually, that’s not what Red Bull consultant Dr. Helmut Marko, said. Marko actually said he would not even consider $100m for releasing Verstappen from his RBR contract. That means Red Bull are happy to consider offers for Verstappen for anything over $100m anything less is not negotiable. Ferrari has been linked to buying Verstappen’s freedom and entombing him to servitude with the prancing horse perhaps for the rest of his career. There is no firm contract in Formula One because there never has been, there is only resolution and compensation should a “firm” contract be broken, which often is the case. Ferrari is the only team who could feasibly buy Verstappen should their current lead driver, Sebastian Vettel, switch to Mercedes in 2018. This time of the year is when F1 silly season begins to ramp up, Verstappen had a different take when questioned about a possible switch to Ferrari at the British GP “100 million? Cool, I’m more expensive than a footballer!”