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Max Verstappen has surpassed Virgil van Dijk to become the wealthiest sports personality in the Netherlands. The Formula One star is currently the highest-paid driver on the circuit, with an annual salary of nearly $66 million (£50million).
The Dutch publication Quote 500 recently published their updated list of the richest individuals in the Netherlands, and Verstappen's earnings have soared. He first appeared on the net worth rankings in 2022, starting at the bottom in 500th place.
Now he's climbed to 264th, having accumulated a remarkable $300M (£229m) during his F1 career. This rise of almost 240 places has seen him overtake Liverpool ace Van Dijk, who is the highest earner in the entire Dutch national team. It comes after Van Dijk hit back at the criticism Liverpool has faced following the win over Aston Villa.
Van Dijk's estimated worth is around $162M (£123m), significantly less than his fellow countryman, who is six years his junior.
The richest individual in the Netherlands is still a considerable distance away from both Verstappen and Van Dijk, with a net worth of $2.2 billion (£1.7billion).
This title is held by Dutch media mogul John de Mol, renowned for creating television successes like Big Brother, The Voice and Deal or No Deal. Both athletes would need to put in quite a bit of effort to reach that level of wealth, but Verstappen currently tops the list as the richest active sportsman.
The F1 star recently secured third place at the Mexican Grand Prix last weekend as he fights to retain his world championship title. Lando Norris overtook McLaren team-mate Oscar Piastri in the standings, with just one point separating the pair.
Meanwhile, Verstappen is hot on the heels, trailing by 36 points, but F1 legend Martin Brundle believes the Dutchman should have been penalized during the race for not making an effort to stay on track.
Commenting on the incident where the 28 year old veered off at the start of the race, Sky Sports pundit Brundle stated: "Max should have had a penalty, because if you put your car on the far-left and four abreast, it will go on the kerb.
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"You can see Max actually accelerate - really skilful driving through the grass, I must say, but Max made no effort whatsoever to take Turns 1, 2 or 3. And that should have been a penalty.
"Max took the risk on the outside, knowing full well he could just bury the throttle and carry on. I might even have given somebody doing what Max did a drive-through, really as a proper deterrent to stop the silliness. Because then it all gets chaotic."
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