{"id":486635,"date":"2026-02-20T02:14:23","date_gmt":"2026-02-20T02:14:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/486635\/"},"modified":"2026-02-20T02:14:23","modified_gmt":"2026-02-20T02:14:23","slug":"f1-ceo-domenicali-dismisses-verstappens-retirement-hint-over-2026-rule-changes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/486635\/","title":{"rendered":"F1 CEO Domenicali dismisses Verstappen’s retirement hint over 2026 rule changes"},"content":{"rendered":"

Formula 1 chief executive Stefano Domenicali has dismissed Max Verstappen’s suggestion that new F1<\/a> regulations could influence the Dutch driver’s future in the sport.<\/p>\n

The four-time champion has been a vocal critic<\/a> of the sweeping changes to F1 regulations for 2026, calling the cars, which rely more on electrical power than before, \u201cno fun\u201d to drive and likening them to all-electric series Formula E \u201con steroids\u201d.<\/p>\n

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In comments on an episode of the \u201cUp to Speed\u201d podcast released Thursday, Verstappen also said the regulations wouldn’t help the \u201clongevity\u201d of his career.<\/p>\n

\u201cI met yesterday Max, because as you know Max is incredible and he has a way of saying something that could be sometimes interpreted in a certain way,\u201d Domenicali told reporters during preseason testing in Bahrain on Thursday.<\/p>\n

\u201cI guarantee to you that Max wants (to) and does care about Formula 1 more than anyone else. He has a way of putting the point that he wants to say in a certain way, but we had a very constructive meeting.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Domenicali added: \u201cMy style is always to be very prudent and try to solve the things internally, as it should be, because we don\u2019t have to highlight things that actually are not in the interest of the fan. And we know that Max will be part of the future of Formula 1, and of course it\u2019s very important that we listen to him, and as we are listening to all the top drivers that are very important in this sport.\u201d<\/p>\n

Verstappen made his F1 debut in 2015 at the age of 17, making him the youngest driver in the history of the sport, and has publicly mused over potential retirement before.<\/p>\n

When he made his 200th career race start in 2024, Verstappen said he believed he was closer to the end<\/a> of his career than the start. He’s known for his enthusiasm for other racing series and made his debut<\/a> in endurance sportscar racing in Germany last year.<\/p>\n

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In the podcast episode released Thursday, the 28-year-old Dutch driver was asked about how close he might be to retirement from F1.<\/p>\n

\u201cDefinitely closer to the end, that’s for sure. Honestly, it’s a tough one. I would say of course the current regulations are not helping the longevity of my career in Formula 1, let’s say like that,\u201d Verstappen said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI’m very happy with my career anyway already in Formula 1. I can easily leave it behind. I have a lot of other projects.\u201d<\/p>\n

___<\/p>\n

AP auto racing: https:\/\/apnews.com\/hub\/auto-racing<\/a><\/p>\n

James Ellingworth, The Associated Press<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Formula 1 chief executive Stefano Domenicali has dismissed Max Verstappen’s suggestion that new F1 regulations could influence the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":486636,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[441],"tags":[49,48,196016,578,576,577,1885,82,42804],"class_list":{"0":"post-486635","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-formula-1","8":"tag-ca","9":"tag-canada","10":"tag-dutch-driver","11":"tag-f1","12":"tag-formula-1","13":"tag-formula1","14":"tag-max-verstappen","15":"tag-sports","16":"tag-stefano-domenicali"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/486635","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=486635"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/486635\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/486636"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=486635"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=486635"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=486635"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}