Max Verstappen says he would retire from F1 if he stopped believing he was the best driver
The Red Bull driver set out the one condition under which he would walk away from Formula 1.
Max Verstappen said he would quit F1 if he ever stopped believing he was the best driver on the grid. The four-time world champion made the comments before the Sao Paulo Grand Prix.
Key takeaways
- Verstappen said he would walk away from F1 if he stopped believing he was the best driver in the field.
- He has won four world titles, with his last coming in 2024.
- He made his F1 debut with Toro Rosso at 17 years old in 2015.
- He is second in the current standings, 17 points clear of George Russell.
Max Verstappen has named the one condition that would make him retire from Formula 1. Motorsport.com reported that the Red Bull driver said he would walk away if he ever stopped believing he was the best driver in the field.
Verstappen on his mindset
The four-time world champion has not won the title since 2024. Speaking to the media before the Sao Paulo Grand Prix, Verstappen was put on the spot about whether he still rates himself as the top driver in F1.
He said that this mindset goes back to his very first season in the championship, when he made his debut with Toro Rosso at just 17 years old in 2015.
"You do have that thought, but in 2015 I also knew that I still had a lot to learn," he said. "
Background and career
Max Emilian Verstappen is a Dutch and Belgian racing driver who competes under the Dutch flag in Formula One for Red Bull Racing.
Verstappen has won four Formula One World Drivers' Championship titles, which he won consecutively from 2021 to 2024 with Red Bull, and has won 74 Grands Prix across 12 seasons.
Throughout his career in the grassroots categories, he won three CIK-FIA championships in a single season in 2013, an unprecedented feat in the history of the discipline, as he went on to win six championship titles that year.
Aged sixteen, he also competed in the 2014 FIA Formula 3 European Championship, where he achieved ten victories, including a record six consecutive wins, becoming the youngest race winner and polesitter in Formula Three history. He also competed in and won the 2014 Zandvoort Masters.
2026 season so far
It has been an odd year for the Dutchman. He has since added wins in Singapore and Mexico, and is now second in the standings, 17 points clear of Mercedes driver George Russell.
"I think I've just had a good season," he said on the year so far. "It's just that in Formula 1, you're also dependent on your car, of course. Lately, we've had things reasonably well sorted again. "
Sao Paulo Grand Prix and what happens next
His Sunday certainly followed this idea. Verstappen climbed to second behind Norris, despite complaining of a "night and day" change in the car after the switch to slick tyres.
Red Bull team principal Laurent Mekies said afterwards that no simulation could have predicted a drive like that, adding that Verstappen was "beating the sim on a regular basis".
It was the third year in a row that Verstappen had fought his way onto the podium from deep on the grid at Interlagos.
Key figures from Verstappen's career and current season
Figure | Detail |
|---|---|
World titles | 4 |
Grands Prix won | 74 |
F1 seasons | 12 |
Current championship position | Second |
Points clear of George Russell | 17 |
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