Max Verstappen has never been particularly interested in playing Formula 1’s greatest-hits game, and he isn’t about to start now — not even when the conversation turns to Michael Schumacher and the sport’s most famous numbers.
Speaking to Swiss publication *Blick*, Verstappen made it clear that while he recognises parallels with Schumacher in attitude and approach, the idea of hanging around long enough to take a run at seven world titles doesn’t move him. Not after what he’s already done, and not with what he values away from the track.
There’s a personal thread to all this that makes the comparison feel less like lazy bar talk and more like something Verstappen has actually lived. His father Jos raced alongside Schumacher at Benetton in 1994, and Verstappen says the families stayed close for years afterwards.
“Because my father Jos was Schumacher’s teammate at Benetton in 1994, the families knew each other for many years afterwards,” Verstappen said. “We even spent a few holidays together. I knew him as Uncle Michael.”
That kind of proximity tends to strip away the mythology. Verstappen isn’t talking about Schumacher as a distant, sepia-toned icon; he’s describing someone he saw up close, in two very specific contexts — the ruthless competitor and the family man. And it’s that duality he says he relates to.
“Yes, on the track and in my private life,” Verstappen replied when asked whether he sees similarities.
The on-track part is familiar territory: an uncompromising obsession with the job, a willingness to bend the race to your will, an ability to narrow your world to the next braking zone. Verstappen’s description of Schumacher could just as easily be used in a modern debrief about himself.
“He was a driver who worked tirelessly and gave his all,” Verstappen said. “For him, only victory counted, no matter how it was achieved. On the track, he was completely focused, just like me.”
It’s the next part, though, that reveals why Verstappen’s not tempted by the record-chasing narrative that tends to follow any dominant driver.
“But at home, he took care of his family and gave them the attention they deserved,” he added.
In other words: Verstappen’s admiration isn’t really about the trophies. It’s about how Schumacher compartmentalised a life that, for most drivers, becomes all-consuming. And in 2026, with Verstappen already a four-time world champion, you don’t get the impression he’s looking for extra reasons to extend his career just to satisfy the sport’s appetite for milestones.
Lewis Hamilton has already matched Schumacher’s seven titles. But Verstappen isn’t framing his own career as a pursuit of Hamilton, Schumacher, or any all-time ledger. If anything, he’s pushing back against the assumption that the only valid arc for a generational driver is “keep going until you’ve collected everything”.
“After more than 230 races, my goal is definitely not to chase seven World Championship titles,” Verstappen said.
That line lands with a bit more weight given how often he’s previously indicated he doesn’t see himself racing into his 40s. Hamilton turned 41 ahead of the 2026 campaign, while Schumacher was also in his 40s by the time he stepped away for the final time. Verstappen, by contrast, continues to speak like someone who’s mapping out a broader life rather than a longer F1 sentence.
And “life” here isn’t a vague, PR-friendly concept. Verstappen’s long-time partner Kelly Piquet gave birth to their daughter, Lily, in May 2025. Verstappen is also stepfather to Piquet’s daughter, Penelope. In that context, his framing is less about rejecting ambition and more about being specific with it — success on his terms, not the sport’s.
“For me, there is nothing more important than my family and my children,” he said. “They are the motivation that you can only get within your own four walls.”
It’s a telling way to talk about motivation, because it flips the usual F1 logic. Typically, the sport is the centre of gravity, and family becomes the thing you fit in where possible. Verstappen is describing the opposite: family as the anchor, racing as the intense, high-stakes job he does around it — even if that job happens to involve chasing tenths on Saturdays and titles on Sundays.
None of this means he’s about to start backing off, of course. When Verstappen says he shares Schumacher’s complete focus in the car, there’s no reason to doubt it. The point is that focus doesn’t automatically translate into a desire to keep clocking seasons until the history books look a certain way.
F1 will always want its neat narratives: the next Schumacher, the next seven, the next record to hunt down. Verstappen, typically, sounds more interested in the messier reality — being all-in when he’s racing, then going home and meaning it.
