Max Verstappen has dropped a hint about his Formula 1 future, declaring he is \u201cdefinitely closer to the end\u201d.<\/p>\n
The future of Red Bull<\/a>\u2019s four-time world champion is set to be a major talking point once again this year. Despite Verstappen <\/a>signing a long-term deal until the end of 2028 back in March 2022, there are understood to be performance clauses that can see him leave the team beforehand.<\/p>\n Verstappen has also been openly critical of F1<\/a>\u2019s new 2026 cars, saying they are \u201cnot a lot of fun\u201d to drive and are like \u201cFormula E on steroids\u201d<\/a>. The Dutchman previously hinted he could quit F1 if he doesn\u2019t enjoy the new generation of cars.<\/p>\n Last year, Verstappen made a winning start on his GT3 debut and has not ruled out a full-time switch to sportscars if he decides to call time on his F1 career early.<\/p>\n Speaking about his future on the Up To Speed podcast, the 28-year-old, who became a father in 2025, said he views his time in F1 as \u201cdefinitely closer to the end, that\u2019s for sure.<\/p>\n Article continues below ADVERTISEMENT<\/p>\n Article continues below ADVERTISEMENT<\/p>\n “Honestly, like it’s a tough one. I would say of course the current regulations are not helping the longevity of my career in F1. Let\u2019s say it like that. It doesn’t matter. I mean, I’m very happy with my career anyway already in F1. I can easily leave it behind. I have a lot of other projects.\u201d<\/p>\n Verstappen insists that leaving a legacy in F1 does not matter to him, nor does chasing records such as the most grands prix wins or world championships.<\/p>\n \u201cWho actually cares when you’re 60 or 70 years old if you have won four titles or 10 because you’re getting old and I prefer to spend that with my family and really spend time with them before they are also not there anymore you know and that’s something that over time and realisation I start to see,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n “Last week, I was skiing with good friends and family and my sister’s boyfriend, they’re getting married you know, so I realised, \u2018this is fantastic\u2019 you know like being able to spend a few days together and appreciate life for sure.<\/p>\n “Who cares like trying to go 24 times a year around the world trying to hunt for another title and when you’re 60 years old or whatever\u2026 I don’t care if I win four or eight. I mean I want to live my life. You only live once and I don’t want to spend 25 years of that in racing a car.<\/p>\n Article continues below ADVERTISEMENT<\/p>\n Article continues below ADVERTISEMENT<\/p>\n “I want to also just appreciate life and what is out there. So yeah, we’ll see. Maybe I sound a bit dramatic now, but I just don’t want to keep hunting or keep trying to live only for racing.”<\/p>\n Subscribe to our F1 Newsletter<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Max Verstappen has dropped a hint about his Formula 1 future, declaring he is \u201cdefinitely closer to the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":503828,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[573],"tags":[64,63,817,813,816,825,918,85],"class_list":["post-503827","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-formula-1","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-f1","tag-formula-1","tag-formula1","tag-max-verstappen","tag-red-bull","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/503827","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=503827"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/503827\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/503828"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=503827"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=503827"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=503827"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}