One thing was crystal clear at the recent 2026 Formula One Japanese Grand Prix, and that is Max Verstappen is a very unhappy man. In the FIA press conference he banished a journalist from The Guardian, refusing to answer questions until the offending pork pie hat had left the room.
Verstappen claims Giles Richards had ‘laughed in his face’ following the season finale in Abu Dhabi last season. Having fallen short by just 14 points of becoming only the second F1 driver to claim five consecutive titles, Richards reminded Max of his red mist in Spain where he appeared to ram the Mercedes of George Russell.
The resulting 10 second penalty issued by the race stewards probably cost Verstappen in the region of 9 points that day, so it was not a deciding incident for his season anyway. Red Bull team boss Laurent Mekies is reported to have had words with his star driver following corporate pressure from Austria over the image he was portraying of the Red Bull brand.
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Max reprimanded for dismissing journalists
Thats in itself is a bizarre tale, given that Red Bull energy drinks brand, the extreme sports they have supported and the rebellious attitude of the Red Bull F1 team have always been associated with kicking over the traces. How times have changed since the death of Red Bull founder Didi Mateschitz. But we digress.
As if to make matters worse, Vertsappen had his worst racing weekend of the season. He was out qualified for the second time by new team mate Isack Hadjar and dumped out of the top ten shootout by rookie Arvid Lindblad in the Red Bull sister car. The RB22 car was “undriveable” repeated Max throughout the weekend, although Hadjar reported the Red Bull made power unit was strong and it was the chassis that was lacking through the high speed corners.
Once again Verstappen addressed the hottest paddock topic which the drivers are almost united over, the nonsensical energy management which is ruining the racing. In qualifying, drivers are no longer having to push flat out for the entire lap, they no have to plan in chess like fashion each corner and their energy deployment to ensure the optimal lap time.
MORE F1 NEWS – Red Bull’s response to growing pressure, but is Verstappen already losing faith?
Verstappen despises current F1 racing rules
In the racing, the sudden depletion of a driver’s battery is leading to monstrous closing speeds which are incredibly dangerous as Oliver Bearman demonstrated in Suzuka. “It doesn’t feel natural to a racing driver,” Verstappen explained when pressed on why he couldn’t push flat out in his qualifying laps.
“Of course I try to adapt to it, but it’s not nice the way you have to race. It’s really anti-driving. Then at one point, yeah, it’s just not what I want to do. And of course you can look at it and make a lot of money. Great. But at the end of the day it’s not about money any more because this has always been my passion,” concluded the Dutch champion.
This rekindled the debate over whether Verstappen will quit F1 if the FIA do not revise the rules over energy management, the debate of which is dominating the race weekends. However, Red Bull boss Laurent Mekies appeared to rule out his star driving quitting mid-season if matters don’t improve.
Red Bull boss denies talk of retirement with Max
Speaking to Beyond the Grid podcast, Mekies now states: “I have full confidence that, as a sport, we have the tools to tweak the regulations. So, they are coming back closer to flat-out qualifying, whilst keeping all the positive aspects that we see from the racing we have seen in the first couple of races.
“And I think if we do that, I have every confidence that Max will keep seeing what we all see, is that you still have the best 22 drivers in the world there. You’ll have the fastest car[s] on the planet, and is the most competitive environment and is ultimately a competitor.”
The Red Bull boss insists “we are not having the retirement talk with Max right now,” but that their conversations revolve only around how get improve the RB22 and go faster. He confirmed Max’s passion for F1 remains, but that he wants to ensure the sport he lives does not become bastardised.
“And hence, he’s vocal about the tweaks he thinks we need to do. As a driver, to make sure that he can be flat out in qualifying and to make sure he can have the good racing. And we are not having retirement discussions,” adds Mekies.
A paid sabbatical and Le Mans?
As most top drivers do, Max has an option to exit his Red Bull; contract which kicks in around the time of the end of the European Racing season, although the exact criteria is a carefully guarded secret. Given Red Bull currently lie sixth in the championship and Verstappen has just 12 points from four races, whatever the nature of the opt out it would currently be met.
Whilst Mekies is confident Verstappen will not retire from F1 there is of course the troublesome matter for George Russell that his boss truly admires the skills of the Dutchman and could once again pursue him for 2027 to drive for Mercedes. Wolff however claimed in Japan his ‘flirting days’ are over and that he is happy with his current driver lineup – but then again he would say that.
A rumour has surfaced from TJ13 paddock sources that in fact Max Verstappen is considering a sabbatical from F1, should the sport fail to address the crisis of confidence it is facing from the drivers and fans alike. Further, that Red Bull Racing would continue to pay his $70m a year salary.
Verstappen has a passion for sports car racing and will enter this year’s 24 hour race at the Nurburgring where 150 cars are all on track simultaneously. Its more than likely should he wish to pursue this form of racing for a season while F1 sorts itself out he would be signed by one of the factory teams for next year, even driving in Le Mans as Fernando Alosno and Nico Hulkenberg have done previously.
Who knows, maybe Verstappen is the only driver of the modern era who could claim the motorsports grand slam of winning the F1 championship, Le Mans and the Indy500 – a feat only ever completed by Graham Hill.
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NEXT ARTICLE: Aston Martin F1 bizarre response to vibration dampening solution
Last Updated on April 1 2026, 1:16 pm
The reality of Aston Martin’s start to the 2026 Formula One season could not be further than the expectations which preceded the launch of the AMR26 racing machine. Paddock experts believed the ‘dream team’ combination of the arrival of Adrian Newey, a works powertrain exclusive relationship with Honda together with eye watering spend on the team’s infrastructure would see the Silverstone based team as genuine title contenders.
Rarely in F1 has the hype and the reality been divided by such a chasm as Aston Martin’s disorganisation became patently clear to their rivals and fans of the sport. Genius car designer Adrian Newey stepped into the breach as team principal in November, when Andy Cowell decided his skills were better served working with Honda in a day to day role at their Sakura base.
Yet the Genius that is Newey the car designer did not translate well into the leadership role required of a team principal. This was evident in that Aston Martin were not ready to take part in the Barcelona pre-season shakedown and arrived pretty much with four days of the test complete….. CONTINUE READING
With over 30 years of experience in Formula 1 as an insider journalist, I have built trusted connections across the paddock, from race engineers and mechanics to senior team figures. At The Judge 13, I and a handful of trusted colleagues share exclusive Formula 1 news, expert analysis and behind-the-scenes stories you will not find in mainstream motorsport media.
A.J. Hunt is Senior Editor at TJ13 and a career journalist with experience in both print and digital sports media. Having trained in investigative journalism and contributed to several European sports outlets, Hunt brings rigour and polish to every article. His role is to sharpen analysis, check facts and ensure TJ13’s daily output meets the highest editorial standards.
