SUZUKA, Japan (AP) \u2014 Four-time world champion Max Verstappen has not ruled out retiring at the end of the Formula 1 season, saying he is trying \u201cvery hard\u201d to enjoy racing under the new changes.<\/p>\n
The Red Bull driver again openly expressed his dissatisfaction on Sunday after an eighth-place finish at the Japanese Grand Prix, which was won by 19-year-old Kimi Antonelli of Mercedes. <\/p>\n
\u201cPrivately I\u2019m very happy,\u201d Verstappen told the BBC after the race. \u201cYou also wait for 24 races. This time it\u2019s 22. But normally 24. And then you just think about is it worth it? Or do I enjoy being more at home with my family? Seeing my friends more when you\u2019re not enjoying your sport?\u201d <\/p>\n
The 28-year-old Verstappen said \u201cThat\u2019s what I\u2019m saying\u201d when asked by the BBC if this could be his last season.<\/p>\n
\u201cI want to be here to have fun and have a great time and enjoy myself. At the moment that\u2019s not really the case,\u201d he said. \u201cOf course I do enjoy certain aspects. I enjoy working with my team. It\u2019s like a second family. But once I sit in the car it\u2019s not the most enjoyable unfortunately. I\u2019m trying. I keep telling myself every day to try and enjoy it. It\u2019s just very hard.\u201d<\/p>\n
Verstappen is among the drivers struggling after one of the most significant regulation changes in F1 took place this season.<\/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 be first or second or whatever, fighting for a podium every time. I\u2019m very realistic in that and 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,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cOf course I try to adapt to it, but it\u2019s not nice the way you have to race. It\u2019s really anti-driving. Then at one point, yeah, it\u2019s just not what I want to do.\u201d<\/p>\n
Formula 1 now takes a five-week break with races scheduled for April in Bahrain and Saudi Arabia called off because of the war in Iran. <\/p>\n
The next race is on May 3 in Miami.<\/p>\n
___<\/p>\n
AP auto racing: https:\/\/apnews.com\/hub\/auto-racing<\/p>\n
The Associated Press<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"SUZUKA, Japan (AP) \u2014 Four-time world champion Max Verstappen has not ruled out retiring at the end of…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":569119,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[441],"tags":[49,48,578,576,577,82],"class_list":["post-569118","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-formula-1","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-f1","tag-formula-1","tag-formula1","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/569118","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=569118"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/569118\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/569119"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=569118"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=569118"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=569118"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}