Max Verstappen‘s bombshell threat to quit Formula 1 seems shocking — and it is — but it has also been a long time coming. And make no mistake: It absolutely is not just an idle threat from a driver upset that he no longer has the best car.
The four-time world champion, who turns 29 in September, appears to be on the precipice of making that stunning decision — either retiring for good or, as sources have indicated to ESPN as another possibility, taking a sabbatical from Formula 1. The four-week break caused by the cancellation of two Middle East races is the beginning of a period that will decide his future.
F1’s biggest rule change ever, a move to hybrid engines featuring a massive and unprecedented emphasis on harvesting and then deploying battery-boosted electrical power, has infuriated Verstappen and seems to have moved him to the brink of this radical decision. He has likened the new cars to Mario Kart, called them a “joke” and “anti-racing,”and said that anyone who has enjoyed the back-and-forth overtakes now created by battery boosts doesn’t “understand what real racing is about.”
To make matters worse, his Red Bull team also appears to be significantly off the pace. Verstappen labored to eighth position at Sunday’s Japanese Grand Prix after being eliminated from qualifying in Q2. His best result of the season so far is a sixth place at the curtain-raiser in Australia.
To anyone who has been following recently, the revelation might not seem new. Verstappen has hinted that his F1 career has a shelf life before but gave the clearest insight into his current mindset across the Suzuka weekend, notably after the race.
Asked by BBC Radio 5 Live if he might “walk away from F1 at the end of the year,” Verstappen responded: “That’s what I’m saying. I’m thinking about everything inside this paddock. Privately, I’m very happy. You also wait for 24 races. And then you just think about is it worth it? Or do I enjoy being more at home with my family? Seeing my friends more when you’re not enjoying your sport?”
In the written media pen after Sunday’s race, he said: “Every day I wake up, I convince myself again [to keep racing]. And I try.”
It’s the closest he has come to overtly saying he could walk away.
closely linked to Verstappen started reporting similar updates with the word “retirement” prominently featured.
Comments he had made Saturday after being eliminated from Q2 also went somewhat under the radar, when he cryptically had said there was “a lot of stuff also for me personally to figure out” about the next few races. He had cut an incredibly despondent figure that evening.
“I’m not even frustrated anymore,” Verstappen said after qualifying. “I’m beyond that, so that’s a bit … I don’t know the right word in English. I don’t know what to make of it, to be honest. Probably no words. I just cannot. … I don’t get upset about it; I don’t get disappointed, frustrated by it anymore with what’s going on.”
The idea of Verstappen leaving F1 seems as tangible as ever. It would be a legacy-defining move for the Dutchman, walking away from the sport at the absolute peak of his powers.
There should be no sugarcoating the wider implications. The four-time world champion’s threat to leave seems like an existential crisis for F1’s new era of car, a rule set the sport has desperately tried to control the narrative around since the beginning of the year. The sport faces a new reality now — unless something remarkable changes in the next few months — that these rules might be remembered as being so bad that they made one of the sport’s greatest ever drivers walk away before his 30th birthday.
Is he serious?
Absolutely serious, that has never been clearer. And, crucially, there are also ways of getting out of his existing contract. Verstappen’s deal with Red Bull — reportedly worth around $70 million a year — runs until 2028. It was a bumper extension signed shortly after he had won his first title in 2021.
The specifics of that contract have been newsworthy before. Much of the focus across the first half of last year was whether Red Bull’s slow start might help Verstappen trigger a performance-related clause in the summer break, which coincided with rumors of a move to Mercedes — rumors Mercedes boss Toto Wolff actively helped to keep alive. As it turned out, Verstappen went into the break third, which did not trigger the clause, and then delivered an astonishing second half of the season that saw him miss out on a fifth title by just two points. A future Mercedes move appeared to be dead in the water come the end of the season, but Wolff is a longtime admirer of Verstappen, and still regrets being beaten to his signature by Red Bull all those years go.
Sources have told ESPN that a similar exit clause exists for 2026, one that was specifically added with F1’s new regulations in mind, given Verstappen’s longstanding apprehension about them. Various reports state that he has a mechanism to leave his existing deal if he is not first or second in the competitive order come the middle of the year. Given Red Bull’s early struggles, it would take a miraculous set of circumstances to not have that route out of his contract available to him.
That clause was added to allow him to assess the competitive order under the new rules and be able to make a decision on his future based on that. The assumption, of course, was that he would still be enjoying racing and that this would merely facilitate a move elsewhere on the grid. Now, though, that clause appears to be Verstappen’s ticket to an early escape from the sport.