Max Verstappen didn’t need to say much at Suzuka to get the paddock reading between the lines. A flat P11 in qualifying, a few carefully chosen sentences, and suddenly the familiar question is back on the table in 2026: how long does he actually want to keep doing this?
“I don’t get upset about it,” Verstappen said after qualifying in Japan. “I don’t get disappointed or frustrated by it anymore with what’s going on… a lot of stuff obviously for me, personally, to figure out.” When pressed, he kept it blunt: “Life here.”
A day later he leaned further into the thought, in language that sounded less like a momentary post-session mood and more like someone weighing up a lifestyle. “You just think about, is it worth it? Or do I enjoy being more at home with my family, seeing my friends more when you’re not enjoying your sport?”
The detail that matters isn’t the drama of it, because Verstappen isn’t performing for effect. It’s the weariness. He’s been unusually open about how he feels about Formula 1’s direction under the new battery-dependent regulations, at times mocking the racing as “Mario Kart” and calling the rules “anti-racing”. This weekend, the edge in his comments wasn’t anger so much as resignation — a driver who’s stopped expecting it to feel the way he wants it to feel.
And then, almost as a rebuttal to himself, he smiled when the conversation drifted to the Nürburgring.
While Red Bull’s programme rolled on in Japan, Verstappen’s head was partly elsewhere: GT3 prep for the Nürburgring 24 Hours in May, an event he’s now confirmed he’ll contest. He’s already shown he’s not dipping into that world for the photo op — he won an NLS race last season, and this year’s second NLS round ended in a disqualification for a tyre infringement. It’s been real racing with real consequences, the kind of thing he seems to relish precisely because it doesn’t come wrapped in paddock politics and regulation debates.
“We have a lot of work to do,” Verstappen said, laying out the practicalities like a driver who’s deep into a project rather than flirting with a hobby. “I’m constantly in discussions. I still have a lot of ideas when I want to try.
“At the end of the day, because it’s all about making sure that all drivers have good experience and good experience in the car, and make sure that it runs well, that it’s reliable and that we are well prepared for that.”
Then came the bit that really gave away how much headspace this is getting. “I still need to try maybe a little bit in the wet, hopefully in the dark as well. So I hope to get those things in before the 24th.”
Within 24 hours, he was doing exactly that: out running at the Nürburgring in his Mercedes AMG GT3, ticking off the kind of seat time he’d just said he wanted. The contrast was hard to miss. In Suzuka he sounded like someone trying to convince himself the grind still makes sense; in GT3 mode he sounded energised, engaged, talking about process, feel, and preparation.
Around the same time, the Red Bull family’s own wet-weather work was happening in Japan, with Red Bull and Racing Bulls conducting a Pirelli tyre test at a rain-soaked Suzuka. Teams were tight-lipped — Red Bull offered no details — but Racing Bulls confirmed Liam Lawson handled the bulk of the running, spending most of Monday on the extreme wet tyres before handing over to Arvid Lindblad.
Lindblad’s day ended the way wet test days often do: in the barriers. He aquaplaned on standing water and hit the wall, though he was able to continue afterwards. By the end, he’d logged 299km compared to Lawson’s 378km — useful mileage, even with the interruption.
None of it directly answers the question Verstappen keeps being asked. He hasn’t said he’s leaving, and he hasn’t set deadlines. But he’s also not doing the usual “I’m focused on the next race” routine. What he’s doing instead is more telling: he’s contrasting his current F1 experience with something he clearly still loves, and he’s doing it in public.
In 2026 — his 10th full season with Red Bull Racing — Verstappen doesn’t sound like a driver looking for reassurance from the outside. He sounds like a driver measuring the cost of staying, and noticing how good it feels when he’s somewhere else, chasing lap time for reasons that are simple again.
