{"id":574721,"date":"2026-03-30T18:52:13","date_gmt":"2026-03-30T18:52:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/574721\/"},"modified":"2026-03-30T18:52:13","modified_gmt":"2026-03-30T18:52:13","slug":"f1-has-a-verstappen-problem-it-can-no-longer-ignore","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/574721\/","title":{"rendered":"F1 has a Verstappen problem it can no longer ignore"},"content":{"rendered":"

Max Verstappen<\/a> has said a lot of bleak things about Formula 1 this year.<\/p>\n

He has called the 2026 cars \u201canti-racing,\u201d compared them to Mario Kart, and described the sensation of driving one as \u201cFormula E on steroids.\u201d<\/p>\n

Often, the response from his detractors or even his rivals has been approximately the same: he\u2019ll calm down once Red Bull<\/a> closes the gap to Mercedes<\/a> and Ferrari<\/a> and can fight for wins again.<\/p>\n

After the Japanese Grand Prix weekend, that explanation started to run out of road.<\/p>\n

Speaking to the BBC ahead of the Suzuka<\/a> race, Verstappen\u2019s comments were particularly significant because of the care he took to separate his unhappiness from Red Bull\u2019s current performance.<\/p>\n

\u201cI can easily accept to be in P7 or P8 where I am,\u201d he said. \u201cBecause I also know that you can\u2019t be dominating or fighting for a podium every time. I\u2019m very realistic in that. I\u2019ve been there before. I\u2019ve not only been winning in F1.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut at the same time, when you are in P7 or P8 and you are not enjoying the whole formula behind it, it doesn\u2019t feel natural to a racing driver.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s really anti-driving. Then at one point, yeah, it\u2019s just not what I want to do.\u201d<\/p>\n

By Sunday, he had finished eighth and appeared genuinely open to leaving before his Red Bull contract expires in 2028.<\/p>\n

\"Max<\/p>\n

Verstappen is yet to finish in the top five this year<\/p>\n

\n Grand Prix Photo\n <\/p>\n

Asked about a potential departure, he said: \u201cI\u2019m thinking about everything inside this paddock. Privately I\u2019m very happy. You also wait for 24 races \u2013 this time 22 \u2013 and then you just think: is it worth it? Or do I enjoy being more at home with my family?\u201d<\/p>\n

De Telegraaf, the Dutch outlet that has long been the most reliable on all things Verstappen, also reported he could quit the sport, describing \u201ccrucial weeks ahead.\u201d<\/p>\n

Those weeks are now here. Formula 1\u2019s calendar has a gap after the Middle East double-header was cancelled, and it is understood that Verstappen\u2019s Red Bull contract contains a clause allowing him to leave if he is not in the top two of the drivers\u2019 championship by a specified date.<\/p>\n

With just 12 points from three races, 51 behind second-placed George Russell<\/a> and 60 behind championship leader Kimi Antonelli<\/a>, that exit route appears to be opening.<\/p>\n

His language at Suzuka didn\u2019t look like a man putting on frustration for the cameras.<\/p>\n

The easy counter-argument, that Verstappen\u2019s mood is inseparable from Red Bull\u2019s results, has been available all season so far, and it has a partial truth to it.<\/p>\n

Former Audi team principal Jonathan Wheatley, who knows Verstappen well from their time together at Red Bull, suggested his criticism was partly \u201cbecause of where he finds himself.\u201d<\/p>\n

Others have made the same point more bluntly, suggesting Verstappen would be quiet if he were driving the Mercedes.<\/p>\n

\"Max<\/p>\n

Verstappen was \u201cbeyond frustrated\u201d after Japan qualifying<\/p>\n

But Verstappen himself has been consistent in pre-empting precisely that line of dismissal. \u201cI keep telling myself every day to try and enjoy it. It\u2019s just very hard,\u201d he said in the BBC interview.<\/p>\n

The weight of evidence suggests Verstappen means what he is saying.<\/p>\n

His complaints are not vague; they are technical, very specific, and rooted in a critique of the power unit philosophy he was making before the 2026 cars hit the track, when, as his father Jos noted, \u201ceverybody was laughing at him.\u201d<\/p>\n

The core problem, as Verstappen has articulated it repeatedly, is that the near 50-50 split between combustion and electrical power has turned driving into a management exercise.<\/p>\n

Verstappen is not alone in feeling the racing has taken a turn for the worse, as many other F1 drivers expressed their unhappiness at seeing Suzuka become much less of a challenge under the 2026 rules.<\/p>\n

In Japan, Verstappen pointed to the direct consequence that other drivers have also complained about: you can attempt an overtake, but completing it costs you battery for the next straight, so the pass immediately reverses.<\/p>\n

The four-time champion spent much of Sunday stuck behind Pierre Gasly<\/a>\u2018s Alpine <\/a> for exactly this reason.<\/p>\n

\"Lando<\/p>\n

Norris had initially defended the rules, but not anymore<\/p>\n

\n McLaren\n <\/p>\n

Verstappen has already built the infrastructure for a post-Formula 1 life with his GT team.<\/p>\n

His ambitions are pointed squarely at the N\u00fcrburgring<\/a> 24 Hours, a race he has called \u201camazing,\u201d with the 2026 edition falling conveniently in F1\u2019s gap between Miami and Canada, and he has already hinted that he would like to race at Le Mans<\/a> as well.<\/p>\n

Verstappen\u2019s alternative career is not hypothetical. It already exists.<\/p>\n

What F1 owes Verstappen<\/p>\n

Being a Formula 1 driver is a huge privilege. Few other positions, not just in sport but in any field, have such a small number of participants, so any driver who makes it onto the grid should consider themselves lucky.<\/p>\n

But it\u2019s also a privilege for F1 to have the best drivers in the world and, in Verstappen\u2019s case, arguably the best.<\/p>\n

So what does Formula 1 owe Verstappen?<\/p>\n

That is the harder question, and the instinctive answer, that a sport doesn\u2019t reshape itself around any one participant, is not quite as obvious as it sounds when the driver in question is Max Verstappen.<\/p>\n

He is 28, third on the all-time wins list with 71, behind only Lewis Hamilton<\/a> and Michael Schumacher<\/a>, and by the consensus of almost everyone who has driven alongside him, capable of things only he can do.<\/p>\n

The 2026 regulations were partly conceived to attract new manufacturers, Audi among them, and to future-proof the championship\u2019s relevance to an electrified automotive world.<\/p>\n

Those are legitimate goals.<\/p>\n

But should the ruling body\u2019s obligations extend to protecting what F1 actually is? That is, the stage on which the greatest drivers perform.<\/p>\n

The sport, including the FIA, is not entirely deaf to this. Review meetings are scheduled in April to assess whether the regulations need refinement following huge amounts of criticism, not just from Verstappen, but also from other drivers and fans.<\/p>\n

\"Max<\/p>\n

Verstappen is a big attraction for F1 fans<\/p>\n

\n Grand Prix Photo\n <\/p>\n

Ahead of the Japanese GP, the FIA had already reduced the energy recovery allowance from nine megajoules to eight for qualifying to reduce the lift-and-coast and the super-clipping, though it was nowhere near enough to make a significant difference.<\/p>\n

The deeper problem F1 is facing is far more structural than it wishes, and one that drivers like Verstappen know can\u2019t be fixed with small adjustments.<\/p>\n

Formula 1\u2019s recent commercial success has been built partly on Verstappen\u2019s dominance.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Max Verstappen has said a lot of bleak things about Formula 1 this year. He has called the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":574722,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[573],"tags":[281988,64,63,817,813,816,825,85],"class_list":["post-574721","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-formula-1","tag-2026-japanese-gp","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-f1","tag-formula-1","tag-formula1","tag-max-verstappen","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/574721","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=574721"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/574721\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/574722"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=574721"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=574721"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=574721"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}