Red Bull Chief Discusses Max Verstappen Retirement: "What He Wants To Do In His Life"

Red Bull team principal Christian Horner has spoken out on rumours of Max Verstappen's retirement after the two-time champion explained he wouldn't be around for much longer if F1 keeps changing.

The Dutch driver is currently in contract with the Austrian team until 2028. However, Horner explained that he is not sure what the driver will do after that. Verstappen has previously made comments that he would have "completed F1" once he won a championship and everything after that would be a bonus.

During an interview with Sky Sports, Horner explained that he doesn't see Verstappen staying in the sport until he is in his forties like Spanish driver Fernando Alonso, and that he is very strong willed with his opinions. Horner commented:

"Max is his own man and he's very, very strong in his opinions and on his outlook on what he wants to do in his life.

"And I don't see him being a Fernando Alonso and still racing at 41 or 42 years of age, or maybe not in Formula 1, but what his love and passion is, is racing.

"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, and while that burns within him, he's going to keep going.

"But how long that burns for, that's each individual's own journey, they've got to find that out for themselves."

Verstappen's criticisms of the sport came up with the introduction of the sprint races and the talk of increasing the number of races in a season to 25.