{"id":612066,"date":"2026-04-18T08:56:12","date_gmt":"2026-04-18T08:56:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/612066\/"},"modified":"2026-04-18T08:56:12","modified_gmt":"2026-04-18T08:56:12","slug":"george-russell-reacts-to-max-verstappen-contemplating-his-f1-future","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/612066\/","title":{"rendered":"George Russell reacts to Max Verstappen contemplating his F1 future"},"content":{"rendered":"

George Russell<\/a> is eager for Max Verstappen<\/a> to stay in Formula 1 but isn\u2019t worried by any impact his departure would have – arguing no driver is bigger than the championship.<\/p>\n

The four-time world champion is currently weighing up his future after being left incredibly frustrated by the new-for-2026 regulations, which he claimed are \u201canti-racing\u201d.\u00a0<\/p>\n

It also doesn\u2019t help that his Red Bull team has suffered a poor start as it is sixth after three rounds, so Verstappen said in Japan last time out that he has \u201clife decisions\u201d to make.<\/p>\n

Read Also:<\/p>\n

The 28-year-old\u2019s situation is therefore different to Russell, who has been supportive of the more electrical regulations, aided by him enjoying his first title-contending car since joining Mercedes<\/a> in 2022.<\/p>\n

So when asked in a media roundtable which included Motorsport.com on Friday if F1 could \u201csurvive\u201d without Verstappen, Russell argued that \u201cFormula 1 is bigger than any driver\u201d.<\/p>\n

But he then added: \u201cYou wouldn\u2019t want to lose Max because I think we all enjoy racing against Max and it\u2019s just part and parcel of Formula 1.<\/p>\n

\"Max <\/p>\n

Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing<\/p>\n

Photo by: Marcel van Dorst \/ EYE4images \/ NurPhoto via Getty Images<\/p>\n

\u201cI didn\u2019t enjoy driving the \u201822 car when it was porpoising up and down, killing everybody\u2019s backs. The car was big, it was heavy, the high-speed corners, it wasn\u2019t very pleasant to drive.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut he didn\u2019t have the same complaint because he was winning. Now, the complaints that he has currently are different to the complaints of Mercedes, Ferrari<\/a> and McLaren<\/a> because we\u2019re at the front end of the grid and this is only natural.\u201d<\/p>\n

None of this is anything new either as Verstappen has often stated that he will only stay in F1 if he enjoys it, having already achieved his goal of becoming world champion.<\/p>\n

Russell therefore understands why the Dutchman is contemplating walking away, particularly as he wouldn’t leave motorsport entirely given he\u2019s a very keen GT3 racer.<\/p>\n

Verstappen has entered two races in the Nurburgring Langstecken-Serie and this weekend is qualifying for the 24-hour contest at the Nordschleife on 16-17 May aboard a Mercedes.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou do understand and recognise the frustration, but he\u2019s achieved what most drivers dream of, which is winning a championship,\u201d added Russell.<\/p>\n

\"#3 <\/p>\n

#3 Mercedes-AMG Team Verstappen Racing, Mercedes AMG GT3 EVO: Max Verstappen, Daniel Juncadella, Jules Gounon<\/p>\n

Photo by: Red Bull Content Pool<\/p>\n

\u201cHe’s got four of them and at the end of the day, you get to a point in life that there’s not really much more for him to achieve in Formula 1.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe’s ticked all the boxes, maybe he can go after the records, but knowing him as I do and knowing drivers who have won or achieved similar things, at one point you want to do what puts a smile on your face – I can totally understand why driving the Nordschleife puts a smile on his face.<\/p>\n

\u201cI’ve driven hundreds of laps around the Nordschleife on the simulator and I would love to have that chance to go and race around the Nordschleife, but my goal now is to become a Formula 1 world champion.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf I have four of them under my belt, I’d probably be doing the same. So, he’s in a very different stage of his career and I think you’d understand if he stayed and you’d understand if he went.\u201d<\/p>\n

Read Also:<\/p>\n

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– The Motorsport.com Team<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"George Russell is eager for Max Verstappen to stay in Formula 1 but isn\u2019t worried by any impact…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":612067,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[441],"tags":[49,48,578,576,577,3024,230526,1885,82],"class_list":{"0":"post-612066","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-f1","11":"tag-formula-1","12":"tag-formula1","13":"tag-george-russell","14":"tag-george-russell-reacts-to-max-verstappen-contemplating-his-f1-future","15":"tag-max-verstappen","16":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/612066","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=612066"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/612066\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/612067"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=612066"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=612066"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=612066"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}