Despite his utter dominance on track in recent years, Max Verstappen had repeatedly claimed that he would want to retire from F1 at a relatively young age. While there have been rumors about him switching teams, there is a higher chance that the Dutchman will retire altogether from the sport at the end of his current Red Bull contract in 2028 rather than move to another team.
As speculations continue about when Verstappen will retire, Red Bull team principal Christian Horner has given his take. “Honestly Max is his own man, and from the conversations I’ve had it’s clear that he doesn’t see himself as Fernando or Lewis and that he’s going to be in this sport for the next 15 years or so,” Horner revealed, per FormulaPassion.
Max Verstappen says, “I know I want to do [Daytona] in the future”. https://t.co/Wg8M279P33 pic.twitter.com/3Iem4gImbb
— Road & Track (@RoadandTrack) November 20, 2024
Verstappen has also stated that he doesn’t wish to race for as long as drivers like Lewis Hamilton and Fernando Alonso have. Instead of racing in F1 till he is 40, the four-time world champion would instead race in other categories like endurance racing after he turns 30.
“No, absolutely no. No desire. I have my mind already set on what I want to do outside of Formula 1”, he said in an interview with RaceFans.net in 2023.
Verstappen‘s love for racing in general is evident via his sim racing activities. Horner too acknowledged in his interview that the Dutchman has several interests outside of F1, which unsurprisingly are related to some or the other form of racing.
Basically, Horner believes “Formula 1 doesn’t’ define him (Verstappen)” and that Verstappen will hang his boots when it is no longer “fun” for him.
The 27-year-old has often reiterated that he hates losing. So, he could take the call to retire from F1 when he doesn’t believe Red Bull can provide him with a car capable of winning races and championships. Still, Verstappen seems to have a set career trajectory in mind and has claimed that he will serve his current contract before doing something else.
Verstappen hopes to set up his own racing team
As much as Verstappen enjoys winning himself, he has revealed on numerous occasions that he also wants to give back to motorsports. The Dutchman hopes to set up his own GT3 racing team and scout young drivers from the world of sim racing, knowing how expensive it is to get into motorsport through the karting route.
“The point is that I can create a stepping stone from sim racing to the GT3,” he had said in an interview in 2023. “So you can’t only get into motorsport through karting because that costs a ridiculous amount of money at the moment. Sim racing is a lot cheaper in comparison”.
Besides that, Verstappen has made no secret of his wish to do endurance racing. He said that he wants to compete in “All the 24-hour races, the big ones“. And knowing the competitor he is, the four-time champion made it clear that he would not want to just compete in them for “fun”, but would want to win.
