Max Verstappen: Why is Formula 1’s Top Driver Threatening Retirement?

No singular driver is bigger than the Formula 1 machine, but Max Verstappen comes close.

The Dutch 4x World Champion and Red Bull driver is in a lane that few F1 pilots (think: Hamilton, Schumacher, and Senna) ever find themselves in. Since his historic debut in 2015, Verstappen has brought in millions of fans, and their buying power, to the sport. Even despite getting the villain edit by the popular Netflix docuseries, Drive to Survive, Verstappen has become a pillar of modern motorsport. Such starpower is great for Formula 1.

Except when the driver and the Formula 1 Group (who owns the sport) find themselves clashing often and publicly, such is the case since the 2026 season started. Now, on the eve of the Miami Grand Prix, the tension between Verstappen and the powers that be has gotten so combustible that there are now near daily rumors of the Red Bull driver retiring early.

When asked if he’s walking away at the end of the season the 28-year-old Verstappen told BBC Sports, “That's what I'm saying. I'm thinking about everything inside this paddock.”

For a racer like Verstappen, who lives and breathes motorsport, what does it mean when the sport he helped magnify becomes unrecognizable to him?

In 2024, the FIA announced the sport’s biggest regulation changes since its inception in 1950. When the news broke that Formula 1 cars would be 50% electrical, opposed to being petrol-powered as most road cars are, Verstappen was already on the record as a critic. Two years before the changes were enacted, he called them “fundamentally wrong” to the sport.

It’s a position he’s since maintained. During preseason testing, Verstappen called the hybrid engines “not very Formula 1-like” and the racing itself “Formula E on steroids.” Admittedly, regulation changes are never popular off the cuff. Even though he dominated the ground effect era, Verstappen was vocal about his disdain for the cars then too.

Disgruntlement was to be expected. With just three races in, Mercedes (an engine forward team) is the clear frontrunner. But for the rest of the grid, news about car development feels like a weird game of Mad Libs when you have Aston Martin’s ‘nerve damaging machine’ and Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc’s comments about deploying the car feeling like mushroom mode in Mario Kart.

When asked if he felt like the negativity around the new regulations was just par for the course or something to take seriously, longtime F1 pundit Chris Medland told Complex that he felt “they have more merit, although not about the racing side of things.”

Former FIA Deputy President Robert Reid is also wary about the new regulations. “There do seem to be legitimate questions about whether the FIA is trying to solve the right problem,” Reid told Complex. “When significant changes are already being discussed only a few races in—and against the backdrop of serious safety concerns—that suggests something more than normal regulatory fine-tuning. It raises broader questions about both the objective of the regulations and the robustness of the process behind them.”

After Oliver Bearman’s crash at the Japanese Grand Prix, the FIA has since announced there will be mild changes made for the Miami Grand Prix so drivers can actually push during qualifying laps and avoid awkward battery stalls (thus preventing the cars behind from plowing into each other).

Still, it’s unclear whether these changes are enough to keep one of the sport’s main characters in the game.

It goes without saying that Red Bull Racing has had a less than stellar start to the season. Entering the Miami Grand Prix, Verstappen sits ninth in the standings, fighting for points alongside mid-field teams like Alpine and Haas. If you’ve got a bone to pick with Verstappen, it’s easy to reduce his comments down as petulant sulking.

But critics and revisionists should remember that Verstappen has not always been triumphant in his Formula 1 career. In his early seasons, the polarizing driver collected DNFs. He was monikered ‘Crashtappen’ for his unfortunate ontrack escapades and there was even a blog named Has Verstappen Crashed Yet?

"I can easily accept to be in P7 or P8 where I am," Verstappen told BBC Radio 5 in March. "Because I also know that you can't be dominating or be first or second or whatever, fighting for a podium every time.”

Though he has been the most vocal about this new era of racing, Verstappen is far from the only unhappy driver. He just has the privilege of being a 4x WDC and the tact of a bullet to be so open about it. It wasn’t received well. Shortly after, Stefanio Domenicali, the CEO of the Formula 1 Group, told the press it was “wrong” for drivers to be criticizing the sport to the press.

Domenicali recently defended the regulations to the Race, stating that “F1 has no problems. It's in excellent shape, just to make sure that's clear to everyone.” To back his point, Domenicali then referenced Grands Prix attendance figures.

While Domenicali may not be receptive to driver feedback, Medland feels the FIA “has been very receptive” and understands that these regulations need adjustment as the season continues.

“The tricky part is there are multiple stakeholders involved and both the FIA and the [Formula 1 Group] want the biggest brands involved in the sport. These rules were made to attract car manufacturers and the drivers’ complaints have to be balanced against not upsetting those investing hundreds of millions into their projects,” Medland says. “Ultimately, even the manufacturers know that their investments are worth less if fans aren’t watching because they don’t like it and the drivers have a huge impact on fan sentiment.”

It doesn’t help that the sun may be setting on the golden era of Red Bull. The team that gave Verstappen four consecutive championships—his “second family” as he frequently calls it—are all flying the coop. Horner was ousted in 2025 to fanfare. Adrien Newey is at Aston Martin (for now) with Jonathan Wheatley—after a brief stint at Audi—likely to join him. Members of Verstappen’s garage have also been slowly trickling out over the last few years.

But the biggest loss is Verstappen’s long-time race engineer, Gianpiero Lambiase (referred to as ‘GP’), who was recently announced to be leaving the team for McLaren at the end of 2027 for the position of Chief Racing Officer. Their bond is so inseparable that Verstappen confirmed that he personally gave his blessing to his friend on the promotion, telling GP “he would be stupid not to do that”

The reality is, Verstappen has been signaling that he’s open to an early retirement. While the regulations may play a strong role in his decision, it could also be that his life and ambitions have changed since he entered the sport at 17. As a new father and a team owner, there’s plenty of non-F1 related experiences that Verstappen wants to embark on.

After all, he’s accomplished everything he wants in the sport. It was always going to be sooner than later that he starts asking what’s next.

“I would be careful about reading [his comments] purely as a negotiating tactic or as a narrow reaction to one rule package,” Reid said. “Late concessions may not be especially effective. They can address the visible issue, but still miss the underlying cause. In that sense, the real question may be less whether Formula 1 can tweak one set of rules, and more whether it can restore the sense that the overall arrangement is still personally worth the cost to Max.”

A driver can’t race forever. Inevitably, there will be a parting of ways for Verstappen and Formula 1. But as we’ve seen before with Alonso, Lauda, Prost, and many others, an early retirement from F1 doesn’t necessarily mean a forever retirement. Verstappen is still young with plenty of life ahead of him.

Notably, his own father, Jos Verstappen, made his return to motorsport at the age of 50 just a few years ago.

Realistically, the next few months are bound to be packed with more of the same ‘will he, will he not?’ back and forth. Some days, Verstappen is quick to reaffirm his love and commitment to the team. Other days, he’s dropping cryptic lines about how he has a lot of thinking to do. Both can be true and both signal that he’s not being disparaging for the sake of being a contrarian; Verstappen genuinely loves racing and is fighting to keep the soul of it.

Whether he’ll succeed or not is another story.