Christian Horner questions Max Verstappen F1 future after quit threat

Red Bull team principal Christian Horner doesn’t see Max Verstappen following in the footsteps of Fernando Alonso and continue in F1 into his 40s after the Dutchman threatened to quit the sport over proposed changes to spring races. At 25 years of age, Verstappen is still very much in his prime years in the sport with F1 drivers now racing for much longer such as Kimi Raikkonen, Alonso and Lewis Hamilton.

Despite his age, Verstappen is already into his ninth season in F1 and is now starting to dominate with a Red Bull car way ahead in development of Mercedes, Ferrari and Aston Martin. A third consecutive world title is on the cards and he’s signed up to drive with Red Bull through to the 2028 season.

But Verstappen has made no secret that he doesn’t plan on sticking around in the sport for as long as other F1 icons have done in recent years. And he recently indicated that the proposed changes to the race weekend in F1 could force him to quit the sport altogether.

He said: “I hope there won’t be too many changes, otherwise I won’t be around for too long. “I am not a fan of it at all. When we do all that kind of stuff, the weekend becomes very intense and we already do a lot of races.”

Horner also seems in the dark on Verstappen’s future plans in the coming years and won’t stand in the two-time world champion’s way on whatever he decides to do. “Max is his own man and he’s very strong in his opinions and his outlook and what he wants to do in his life,” Horner told Sky Sports.

“I don’t see him being a Fernando Alonso and still racing at 41 or 42 years of age and may not in Formula One. But his love and passion is racing and if he’s not racing on track at the moment, he’s racing in the virtual world.

“He’s driving GT cars for fun and his passion is just driving and racing. While that burns within him, he’s going to keep going but how long that burns for, that’s each individual’s own journey.

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“They’ve got to find that out for themselves.” Damon Hill feels Verstappen’s threat to quit the sport is “very unusual”, but understands why the current championship leader feels that way if he’s no longer enjoying what he does.

“This is kind of strange to hear, isn’t it?” Hill said. “I think [fun] is a very important point.

“Is he having fun? Because I sometimes think he’s not having fun. I think you have to love what you’re doing, otherwise it’s a grind.”

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