Max Verstappen beats Lewis Hamilton to get on Forbes’ Top 20 highest-paid athletes of 2024

However, the F1 drivers were not much behind the Portuguese legend, as Max Verstappen claimed the 17th spot in the list accumulating a whopping total of $81 million. While the 26-year-old secured a spot in the top 20, the fans noticed that he had overthrown the seven-time world champion, Lewis Hamilton.

The 39-year-old dominated F1 in terms of all its aspects during the turbo hybrid era, but since the dawn of the new regulations, things have not proven very kind to him. The Brit came in at the 21^st position with total earnings of $69 million.

Can a sabbatical change Max Verstappen’s mind about leaving Red Bull?

Despite being paid a mighty salary by Red Bull, the Dutchman has been rumored to be looking for a move elsewhere on the grid. However, despite the noise, he has always maintained a stance that he would stay loyal to Red Bull amid everything that has been going on with the team.

However, former F1 driver, Karun Chandhok has given a fascinating suggestion about Verstappen’s future in F1.

[Max Verstappen]could have a year out in 2026. We would never have thought of Verstappen leaving the team until all of the stuff unfolded around Bahrain or before Bahrain. So it is a really strange market and a really difficult one to read. Increasingly, I think Max will stay at Red Bull for 2025. I think he will take 2026 off and have a year out, see what happens. Then in 2027, he could go anywhere, couldn't he? And he will go off. Karun Chandhok said in the Sky Sports F1 podcast

The Indian claimed that Verstappen should stay at Milton Keynes for the following season and take a sabbatical in 2026, like the former world champions. Chandhok genuinely feels this would shake up the F1 grid tremendously and could be a major loss for the Austrian giant.

However, there is no surety that the reigning champion would like to make a comeback to F1 if he decides to take a sabbatical. Moreover, he has previously stated that whenever he walks away from the sport, he would try his hands at other forms of racing. If this possibility becomes true, it would wreak havoc in the world of F1 and surely be seen as a major turning point in the series’s long history.