Verstappen said after the Japanese Grand Prix<\/a> — the latest disappointment to start his 2026 season — that he is considering quitting at the end of the year due to his dislike of the new regulations and cars.<\/p>\n That would be two years before the end of his Red Bull contract, with Verstappen having previously said he would weigh up his future in 2028 rather than any earlier.<\/p>\n And Hill, the 1996 world champion, believes the four-time title winner may need to step away.<\/p>\n “I think if you’re not happy doing something, you should stop and do something else,” Hill said on the BBC. “You’re not obliged to do it.<\/p>\n “Max doesn’t have to do this. He’s a new dad as well, and he’s been doing it for a long time. There does come a point where the chewing gum loses its flavour a bit. Maybe he needs a break.”<\/p>\n Verstappen has been fiercely critical of the all-new regulations on 2026, which — focused on deployment of electrical power — have revamped the way drivers race, overtake, and find speed.<\/p>\n The Dutchman has said he has had talks with the FIA about potential changes, and implied on Sunday that they would help him remain in the sport.<\/p>\n “They know what to do,” Verstappen said.<\/p>\n – Max Verstappen considering retiring from F1 at end of 2026<\/a> But Hill added: “If he’s saying this in order to get some leverage on the way things are at the moment, I don’t think that will work.<\/p>\n “I think that approach … people will just say ‘Max, go away, come back when you’ve had a think about it.’<\/p>\n “You can’t always get what you want.”<\/p>\n F1 now has a five-week break between races due to the cancellation of the Bahrain and Saudi Arabian GPs, with the next event in Miami on May 1-3.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Mar 30, 2026, 02:34 AM ET Ex-Formula 1 world champion Damon Hill has recommended a break from the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":570272,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[441],"tags":[49,48,578,576,577,82],"class_list":["post-570271","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\/570271","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=570271"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/570271\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/570272"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=570271"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=570271"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=570271"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Max Verstappen has said he may walk away from F1 at the end of the season.\u00a0Marcel van Dorst\/EYE4IMAGES\/NurPhoto via Getty Images<\/p>\n
– Max Verstappen: ‘Massive lack of respect’ led to journalist ejection<\/a><\/p>\n