Max Verstappen has come to an awkward realisation about his age after a brief chat with Daniel Ricciardo.
The youngest driver to ever race in F1 when he made his debut in 2015 at the age of just 17, Verstappen remains the youngest to ever win a grand prix at just 18 years, 228 days at the 2016 Spanish GP.
However, as father time moves, Verstappen is now one of the elder statesmen on the grid, aged just 28, and will turn 29 in September.
The Dutchman, speaking with former Red Bullteam-mate Ricciardo, realised that he is now older than the average age of the grid, just.
Combined, all the drivers on the 2026 grid have an age of 622 years, which, divided by 22, equals 28.2.
GP’s departure news has, however, sent fans into a frenzy as they recall a 2021 interview of Max Verstappen, in which he said he would stop his career if his engineer did. He boldly stated that he’ll only work with him.
Now, this interview has sparked speculation, including Verstappen entirely being out of the sport or moving to McLaren to become teammates with Lando Norris.
Many believe that McLaren now has an upper hand in signing Verstappen in the future, as they have managed to bag his favourite race engineer. Moreover, as retirement rumours continue to grow around Max Verstappen, Jos Verstappen has left the decision entirely up to the four-time world champion regarding the future of his F1 career.
The Verstappens knew about GP’s switch to McLaren
In a conversation with RaceXpress, Jos Verstappen revealed that they had known beforehand about GP’s departure from Red Bull to McLaren and were supportive of it. Hoping to make the most of their remaining time with him, he added, “We’ve got another year and a half or two years to work with him. It’s a huge opportunity for him, and we understand that. We’ve also told him: you have to go for it and grab it with both hands.”