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Max Verstappen Pays a Hefty $2,000,000 Price for His Superstardom as Mega Sponsor Leaves After Money Laundering Allegations

Published 06/02/2023, 6:47 AM EDT

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via Reuters

Since the start of the 2022 season, we have hardly seen Max Verstappen lose. The Dutchman has won almost every race he has finished and has won two back-to-back championships as well. This scenario transcends to real life away from Formula 1 as well with his increased marketability. However, despite his incredible success in the past couple of seasons, the Dutchman is losing one investor. The supermarket chain has announced it will stop sponsoring the Dutchman after the end of the 2023 season, despite announcing their continued support earlier in the year.

The supermarket chain, Jumbo Supermarket, invests over $20 million as sponsors in various sports. However, these sponsorships are now part of a money laundering investigation against former CEO Frits van Eerd since September 2022. Keeping this in mind, many would perceive the allegations as the reason behind this decision from the supermarket chain. However, the new CEO Ton van Veen put some clarity into this decision, as reported by the Dutch newspaper Algemeen Dagblad.

via Reuters

“We don’t want anything to do with motorsport and the allegations. With Verstappen and Jumbo-Visma we stop for a completely different reason. That sponsorship has brought us a lot of brand awareness, but we have now won everything there is to win,” says Van Veen.

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We are absolutely sure Verstappen still has a long way to go and achieve a lot more than he already has. However, Jumbo has extracted Verstappen’s full potential from their sponsorship deal.

The supermarket chain was investing $2.15 million in Verstappen each year. Although the sponsorship amount is a small change for the Dutchman, who is generating massive revenues from other sources, he is still grateful for the support.

Max Verstappen is grateful for all the years of continued support from Jumbo

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The Dutchman joined the premier class as a young teenager in 2015. The Dutch supermarket chain has been behind the pride of the nation since then. Jumbo has supported Verstappen throughout his F1 career and the significance of the continued support isn’t lost on Verstappen. He communicated his gratitude via his manager, Raymond Vermeulen.

via Reuters

Vermeulen conveyed, “We especially look back on ten years of successful cooperation. Max is extremely grateful for all the support. When he took his first steps in motorsport, Jumbo was behind Max. He is very grateful for that. I think when we look in the rearview mirror we can look back on ten very nice years.”

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More than the money, it was the support from an early stage in his career that played an important part. The Dutchman will definitely feel the absence of Jumbo. However, with his current performance graph, companies will be lining up to get associated with Verstappen.

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Written by:

Mahim Suhalka

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Mahim Suhalka is a senior F1 Author at EssentiallySports. Having written over 1000 articles, Mahim specializes in core sports coverage. Having followed the sport for a long time, his articles contain excellent analysis of the sport and he dives deeper into the technicalities of this complex sport.
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Edited by:

Varunkumaar Chelladurai