He is 29. He has been on an F1 grid since he was 17. By the time the deal he just signed with Red Bull runs out, he will be 33, and in his own words he will have dedicated more than half his life to the sport. That is the maths Max Verstappen has started to say out loud this week.
“Staying here until then would mean I have dedicated more than half of my life to Formula One, and that is probably a bit too much,” he told the Press Association in comments carried by TSN.
“I also want to spend more time at home and see the kids growing up.”
Red Bull confirmed the four-year extension on 20 August, days before the Dutch Grand Prix. The headline then was that Verstappen had chosen to stay. The headline from the four-time champion himself, seven weeks on, is that the extension may be his final act.
Read also: Real Madrid make Michael Olise decision as Bayern prepare record-breaking deal
The 2030 door, from the inside
Verstappen is not framing the deal as a decision locked in for the next four seasons. He is framing it as a window that can be re-opened and closed every year.
“I have extended for a few more years, and then I will look again and say to myself, ‘Can I commit 100 per cent?’” he said.
“If not, or there are other fun things around that deserves more time, then maybe I don’t continue.”
The driver who considered walking away over the 2026 regulations is now using the same calculus to look at the end of the decade. He already told the paddock in Zandvoort that he had been “closer to retiring than changing teams” before putting pen to paper.
Read also: Jose Mourinho breaks silence on Kylian Mbappe controversy: “It’s ridiculous”
Ferrari ruled out, flatly
The flipside of that logic is a cold-blooded view of other options. A Ferrari switch, long treated by the paddock as the natural second chapter for any superstar, is off the table.
“I only want to win,” Verstappen said.
“I am not a nostalgic type. Do I have a lot of respect for the brand? Absolutely. But if that means you then commit yourself, and you are driving P5 or P6, what’s the point?”
The P5 or P6 line is pointed. Verstappen sits fourth in the drivers’ standings on 188 points, tied with Lando Norris and 132 behind Kimi Antonelli, who leads for Mercedes. Red Bull’s switch to its own Ford-partnered power unit left the team playing catch-up for most of the season.
Read also: Drone and missile attacks at Riyadh doesn’t postpone Canelo vs Mbilli fight
Verstappen finally broke that run a week ago, winning the Bahrain Grand Prix held in Malaysia in a wet-dry race at Sepang. It is his and Red Bull’s first victory of 2026.
A quieter paddock without Horner
The other change in Verstappen’s season is who he answers to. Christian Horner is gone, replaced in 2025 by Laurent Mekies, confirmed as team principal and CEO of Oracle Red Bull Racing. Verstappen says the atmosphere has shifted with him.
“It is less stressful,” he said. “We are all leading a stressful life, and when you can take a bit of stress out of it at times, it is good.”
Mekies called the extension “fantastic news for everyone at Red Bull” when it was announced, and Verstappen described the team in the same statement as a “second family.” The driver’s second family, in other words, has been given four more years. His first family, he is now telling the world, gets the rest.
Read also: Cristiano Ronaldo’s mother breaks silence with emotional message to Portugal
The next test is this weekend’s Singapore Grand Prix, round 17 of the season at Marina Bay, with lights out on Sunday 11 October at 8pm local time.
Read also: Golden State Warriors gets the former No. 1 overall pick back
