2009 F1 world champion Jenson Button does not believe Max Verstappen would be interested in taking a sabbatical from the sport.<\/p>\n
Verstappen has voiced his disappointment with the new-for-2026 cars and the techniques required to extract lap time, with a heavy emphasis on battery deployment from the power unit.<\/p>\n
Adding to his frustrations, Red Bull has been unable to challenge at the front of the grid this year and remains without a podium after the opening three rounds.<\/p>\n
This has led to speculation over Verstappen\u2019s future, with the four-time champion himself admitting his distaste for the new regulations could push him towards the exit.<\/p>\n
While some have suggested Verstappen could take a year out before returning, Button does not see it playing out that way.<\/p>\n
\u201cPersonally, it doesn\u2019t feel like he\u2019s the kind of guy who takes a sabbatical,\u201d\u00a0Button told Sky F1. \u201cHe\u2019s either racing or he\u2019s not.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf he wants to stop and go do something else, that\u2019s fun as well.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think this will be his last \u2018career\u2019 in F1. I don\u2019t think he\u2019ll take a year out and come back. I don\u2019t think that\u2019s the Max I\u2019ve come to know.\u201d<\/p>\n
Article continues below.<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t\tVerstappen central to driver market decisions – Button<\/p>\n
Verstappen is also set to lose another significant figure in his camp after McLaren announced earlier this month that it had signed Gianpiero Lambiase from 2028.<\/p>\n
Lambiase has served as Verstappen’s race engineer since the Dutchman was promoted to the Milton Keynes-based squad in 2016.<\/p>\n
As anticipation over Verstappen’s future builds, Button insisted the 28-year-old will be central to the driver market fallout.<\/p>\n
\u201cOnly a few weeks before it was announced that Lambiase was going to McLaren, Max came out and said \u2018I can\u2019t ever imagine racing with him by my side\u2019,\u201d\u00a0Button said.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut it\u2019s 2028, it\u2019s another two years ago. We\u2019ll see.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut it\u2019s exciting, there\u2019s so much to look forward to with the driver market over the next few years.<\/p>\n
\u201cMax is always going to be the centre of attention because he\u2019s in a car, at the moment, that\u2019s not performing.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re used to him being at the front, and he\u2019s not.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"2009 F1 world champion Jenson Button does not believe Max Verstappen would be interested in taking a sabbatical…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":621082,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[572],"tags":[64,63,827,830,828,831,829,826,813,823,825,806,805,824,803,804,822,85],"class_list":{"0":"post-621081","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-motosport","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-daniel-ricciardo","11":"tag-f1-calendar","12":"tag-f1-live","13":"tag-f1-results","14":"tag-f1-standings","15":"tag-ferrari","16":"tag-formula-1","17":"tag-lewis-hamilton","18":"tag-max-verstappen","19":"tag-motor","20":"tag-motor-sports","21":"tag-motorsport","22":"tag-motosport","23":"tag-motosports","24":"tag-racing","25":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/621081","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=621081"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/621081\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/621082"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=621081"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=621081"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=621081"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}