Max Verstappen snubs Lewis Hamilton path and has decided his F1 retirement plan

02 September 2023 , 05:00

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Max Verstappen snubs Lewis Hamilton path and has decided his F1 retirement plan

Max Verstappen reaffirmed he has "no desire" to copy Lewis Hamilton and sign up to stay in Formula 1 beyond his 40th birthday.

The Brit will be doing exactly that after his new Mercedes contract was announced on Thursday. The extension will keep Hamilton with the team and in the sport until at least the end of 2025, and he has already been hinting that this deal may not be his last.

Even approaching 40, Hamilton is not the oldest on the F1 grid. Fernando Alonso takes that particular crown, still going strong at the age of 42 with seven podiums to his name so far this season.

Both of the sport's elder statement serve as a shining example to their peers that, if you look after your body and mind, F1 driving careers can go on for even longer than most would imagine. That is, if you want it to.

Verstappen is, at the moment, very much against that idea. He has been racing in the sport since he was 17 and has all but secured his third title this year. He has plenty of time to smash every F1 record there is if he wants to, but the Red Bull racer insists he won't be sticking around for as long as many would expect.

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"No, absolutely no – no desire," he replied when posed that question by RaceFans. "No, I have my mind already set on what I want to do also outside of Formula 1. It's a big passion of mine and I want to make that happen as well."

Some over Verstappen's suggestions that he will leave F1 at a relatively young age have come after changes to the sport. For example, with tweaks being made to the Sprint format that he loathes on a regular basis, he suggests that the constant changes is something that will drive him away quicker.

While some of those statements have been perceived as threats, Verstappen feels differently. "It's not really a threat, it's just how I see my life," he added. "I've been racing since I was four years old and at one point, enough is enough. For me, it's not about winning seven, eight titles, nine titles. Once you've won it, it's always the same thing at the end of the day.

"I have a lot of plans outside of Formula 1 already. It's not like F1 is my life, this is the only thing that I do. And that's why I think I can easily do other stuff as well while not travelling that much at one point. Because at one point it's enough."

Daniel Moxon