In he went to the Tyrrell team but did not score any points, though he briefly ran 5th in the Canadian Grand Prix. The team suffered from an underpowered Ford Cosworth EDV V8 engine and a lack of funding leaving Verstappen and teammate Mika Salo struggling towards the rear of the field. Verstappen's best result for the team was 8th at the wet Monaco Grand Prix. Before the 1998 season Tyrrell were sold to British American Tobacco, who intended to rebrand the team as British American Racing in 1999 after one final season under the Tyrrell banner. Ken Tyrrell wanted to retain Verstappen alongside Toranosuke Takagi but BAR insisted on taking pay driver Ricardo Rosset alongside the young Japanese driver. Tyrrell himself left the team in disgust over the matter, leaving Dr. Harvey Postlethwaite to run the team.