I don’t know if Max Verstappen is being serious about leaving Formula One because of the shift to the new 2026 regulations, but one thing is clear: one day, he will call time on his career. So what does it matter if he retires tomorrow or at the end of the year?

He’s been involved in motorsport since the age of eight—most of his life. He’s won four championships, racked up a lot of wins and podiums in the process, and earned a king’s ransom. But Formula One is ruthless. When Verstappen does leave the grid, the attention will move on to the next talent, as it always does.

Imagine if Verstappen does leave, no doubt he will get the obligatory Sky F1 memory-lane video montage, complete with emotional music, praise from commentators and pundits, and Verstappen soundbites—just the usual tin-pot media routine. By that point, my eyes will have glazed over, and I’ll probably switch to the PS5 for a session of Fortnite.

In other words, Max, when you leave, a day later, no one will give a damn. No one will say, “Oh, we wish Max was still driving,” or “Max would have done this,” or “That driver needs to be more like Max Verstappen.” Just the usual pointless punditry pus.

Sporting careers are finite—they have a beginning and an end. By definition, they’re short, but they’re by no means the end because life is more than F1. Otherwise, Martin Brundle would still be driving—imagine that. In a recent article, Brundle basically called out Verstappen: either do or do not, there is no try.

In an article written and published by BBC F1 correspondent Andrew Benson, the title reads: “What can F1’s bosses do to help keep Verstappen in the sport?”

Hey Andy, reminder: Max Verstappen is a grown-ass man—he doesn’t need help. Do you think Verstappen is a shrinking violet? Does he really need a pat on the back, a hug, and a big sloppy kiss from an FIA official saying, “There, there, everything’s going to be alright, brother Max”?

That being said, if Verstappen is unhappy with the current rules and says so repeatedly, he should make good on his threat and leave. That’ll tell them.

But he won’t. I think Max is just playing the fiddle while F1 burns in what I—and Fernando Alonso—call the “battery world championship.” Max is playing politics. Because if he were in a Mercedes, he wouldn’t be as vocal—or at least his criticism would be more subdued—because winning overcomes almost any challenge.

Formula One, as it always has, will continue—reshaping itself around the next generation, with little pause for reflection. And Max, like every driver and champion before him, will become a footnote in F1 history.