Max Verstappen has, for the first time in public and with his own words, put the end of his Formula 1 career on the table. The four-time world champion said over the weekend that he is considering walking away at the close of the 2026 season, describing the sport’s new technical regulations as "fundamentally wrong" and openly questioning whether Grand Prix racing in its current form remains "worth it." The 28-year-old’s discontent is not about results. Red Bull are off the pace, but Verstappen has made clear he can "easily accept" running seventh or eighth. The issue is how the cars feel to drive.
F1’s biggest regulatory reset in a generation arrived this season. A new power-unit formula combining smaller combustion engines with significantly larger electric components, along with a matching chassis concept, has produced cars that behave differently in ways that matter to drivers and, so far, underwhelm to them. Verstappen has been the most prominent critic, the most specific in his language, and now, by some distance, the most willing to attach that language to a hypothetical exit.
"I’m Thinking About Everything in This Paddock"
The Dutchman, speaking after finishing eighth at the Japanese Grand Prix, did not spin his position. "I’m thinking about everything inside this paddock," he said, before pressing the same point home: "Is it worth it?" He described the regulations as "anti-driving," a phrase that, coming from a four-time champion in his peak years, lands differently than it would from a midfield driver. He also repeated that his unhappiness is not about the results column. It is about the feel of the cars, the balance between driver and systems, and the daily experience of racing at the highest level.
"I’m not enjoying the whole formula," he said. "That’s not healthy. It undermines my ability to commit fully." Drivers of his stature rarely speak this way in public before the door closes. When they do, the decision has usually already been made, even if it has not yet been announced.
The V10 Proposal — and the Paddock’s Reaction
Part of the backdrop is Verstappen’s advocacy for a return to screaming, high-revving normally aspirated engines — specifically the V10 and V8 formats last used in F1 in 2005 and 2013. Those engines remain, culturally, the sound many fans associate with the sport at its most distinctive. Pragmatically, they have been phased out for reasons of efficiency, relevance to road-car development, and manufacturer buy-in.
Reviving them is not straightforward. But the fact that Verstappen has kept that conversation alive in interview after interview is a signal: he is not quietly tolerating the new rules. He is building a public argument against them, and he is doing it with the credibility of a four-time champion who has no financial or performance incentive to rock the boat.
A Nürburgring Weekend, and a Parallel Life
It is worth pausing on where Verstappen spent his most recent weekend off. He travelled to Germany, climbed into a GT3 car, and raced at the Nürburgring Nordschleife in the NLS series. That is not a publicity appearance. It is a working weekend for someone exploring what the next stage of his driving career might look like, against a backdrop of the regulations he is publicly criticising in F1.
Verstappen has rarely hidden his affinity for endurance and GT racing. What is new is the sequencing. The Nürburgring run did not follow a podium or a dominant win. It followed a weekend in which F1 produced a result and a feeling he no longer relishes. Read charitably, it is a pressure valve. Read less charitably, it is a preview of a Plan B.
The Red Bull Contract Question
His contract at Red Bull runs through 2028, but performance-based exit clauses are believed to be active under certain championship scenarios, and Dutch insiders — chief among them Giedo van der Garde — have publicly said they expect Verstappen to leave before the end of his current deal. A parallel storyline involves Gianpiero Lambiase, his long-time race engineer and one of the reasons he has stayed settled at Red Bull. Verstappen himself was summoned back to Silverstone on Wednesday, April 22, with Lambiase alongside, for a session that has been read across the paddock as an attempt by Red Bull to course-correct.
There is also the transfer market. Rival teams would clear significant space to sign a driver of Verstappen’s calibre, and the broader Red Bull ownership situation — amid intermittent reports of sale discussions — is its own source of instability. None of this makes a specific destination obvious. All of it makes the idea of him finishing his career in a Red Bull uniform less certain than it has been at any point since 2021.
Miami, and the Rest of the Season
The next race is the Miami Grand Prix on the weekend of May 1-3, which will run to F1’s Sprint weekend format. Twenty-two races remain on the 2026 calendar. Verstappen himself has said nothing about walking away mid-season. His contract, his professionalism and his competitiveness will all carry him through.
What has changed is the conversation around what happens afterwards. Six months ago, the idea of Verstappen leaving F1 would have been a hypothetical raised by journalists. Today it is a scenario raised, on the record, by the driver himself.
