Max Verstappen Teases F1 Exit If New Laws Aren’t ‘Enjoyable’

The new laws might want to step it up

With just a Sprint Race and two Grand Prix left in the 2025 Formula 1 season, Red Bull’s Max Verstappen finds himself still in championship contention, but needing a lot to go his way if he wants to win a fifth-straight drivers’ title.

However, the man himself has talked down his chances and is now saying that tying Michael Schumacher and Lewis Hamilton’s record of seven World Drivers’ Championships isn’t on his mind.

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In fact, he said this week in Qatar that if the next set of regulations isn’t “fun,” then he’d have no problem stepping away from F1 altogether.

“My contract runs until 2028, but it will depend on the new rules in 2026, and if they are nice and fun,” Verstappen told PA Media (via Motorsport). “If they are not fun, then I don’t really see myself hanging around.

“Winning seven titles is not on my mind. I know that there are three more years after this one, so it could be possible, but it is not something I need to do before I leave the sport. I can leave the sport easily tomorrow.”

That may sound wild coming from a guy who is still in championship contention on the penultimate weekend of the season, despite this being an “off” 12 months for his staff.

But we’ve seen drivers leave F1 at the top of their game before. Nico Rosberg called it a career after winning his first and only championship in 2016, for instance.

What I thought was most interesting was that Verstappen is putting a lot of his future on the new regulations in 2026.

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Next season will bring brand-new cars plus brand-new engines. Whenever there’s a regulations overhaul like that, it can shake up the running order, and it’s not hard to imagine why Verstappen wouldn’t be a fan of running in the midfield if the new Red Bull struggles with the new regulations.

But I think this has more to do with the cars in general than how Red Bull fares. It seems that Verstappen’s comments are pretty literal: he just wants the new cars and power units to be fun to work with. 

F1 cars have been getting increasingly heavy and harder to handle. It seems Verstappen wants to see the return of more raceable cars that allow for more overtaking opportunities. That is one thing the new regulations are trying to tackle, though, in fairness, the last big change in 2022 was as well.

Verstappen is a pure racer, and if he’s not having fun in F1, he has plenty of other interests. He recently made his endurance racing debut in a GT3 car at the Nordschleife and won.

Plus, it’s no secret that he’s a big-time sim racer.

So, not that the new regulations need any more pressure to deliver the good racing for fans, but if they come up short, it could cost the sport one of its biggest stars.

As I said, though, no pressure.