Max Verstappen was all smiles in Montreal as he stepped onto the Formula 1 podium for the first time this season — a breakthrough both for Red Bull Racing and its Ford‑partnered engine project. The result also put Ford back on an F1 rostrum for the first time since the 2002 Italian Grand Prix, when it last appeared in the sport as the Jaguar team. Yet the milestone did little to ease the Dutchman’s wider misgivings about the current era.
Returning to the paddock after a standout maiden outing at the Nürburgring 24 Hours, Verstappen said the 2026 rules have confirmed his worst fears about how the cars feel to drive. “If it stays like this, it’s going to be a long year next year, which I don’t want,” he said, per the BBC, after qualifying. “It’s just mentally not doable for me to stay like this. It’s really not.”
Drivers say qualifying is where the pain is most acute under the 2026 package. A near 50‑50 split between internal combustion and electrical power incentivises them to back off in certain corners to ensure the battery is fully charged for deployment on the straights. The counterintuitive style blunts F1’s purest test of speed. The same dynamics apply in races, though many find the effect less pronounced over longer stints.
Verstappen told Sky Sports after finishing third in Montreal: “The thing is, I know how pure other motorsport can feel, so when you come back to this, it’s not very nice,” he explained. “I don’t want to be too negative now after a race like this, but I know what it feels like to drive pure racing cars, pure overtakes, pure racing, just natural driving.
“This is all a bit — especially qualifying — anti-driving, anti-racing. That’s not what Formula 1 should be about.”
In response to driver feedback, F1 has been trying to fast‑track significant hardware changes for 2027 to rebalance the hybrid power unit — targeting a shift closer to a 60‑40 split in favour of the combustion engine and adjustments to increase charging capacity — to make the cars more conventional to drive at most circuits. Verstappen endorsed the direction during the Montreal weekend. “It will make the product better, so that means that I’m happier, and that’s what I want — to be able to continue and perform well,” he said.
He was even more explicit in comments to De Telegraaf when asked if he could be assumed to race in 2027. “Yes, certainly,” he said. “Unless very crazy things happen, but I’m not assuming that. I hope everyone keeps their word. But I can confirm that I am staying in Formula 1.”
At the time, there was optimism the sport had found the resolve to push through politically complex changes, and Verstappen spoke as if they had been settled. “The ratio between the combustion engine and the electric motor will then be approximately 60-40, depending a bit on the circuit,” he said. “It is not quite top-notch yet, but it is a step in the right direction. And certainly an improvement compared to the current situation.”
But in the days that followed, it became clear the politics were more tangled than hoped. Crunch meetings on the sidelines of the grand prix ran into significant resistance — including pushback from several engine builders — placing the in‑principle plan in jeopardy.
Verstappen reiterated his warning as the round wrapped up. “It’s not what Formula 1 should be about,” he said. “F1 just needs to be more pure, and I really hope that what they try to do next year will go through, because I think that is necessary — the minimum necessary — to make it a bit more natural and a bit more back to normal, or at least a bit more pure racing.”
A central sticking point is fairness. Boosting fuel‑flow limits to increase combustion power will raise fuel demand across a race distance, but some teams have already committed to carrying their 2026 chassis into 2027, creating cases where existing fuel tanks could be too small at certain circuits. Racing Bulls boss Alan Permane indicated the issue had been addressed quickly — albeit contentiously — with agreement at team principal level to accommodate carryover situations.
What happens next will hinge on whether stakeholders can convert broad intent into an agreed rule package for 2027 that balances competitiveness, cost and fairness. All eyes are on the next round of talks — and on whether the minimum changes Verstappen is calling for clear the political hurdles.
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*Originally published on [News Formula One](https://newsformula.one/article/max-verstappen-renews-f1-quit-threat-as-2027-plan-stalls). Visit for full coverage.*
