F1 Doomsday: Verstappen, Hamilton and Alonso all quitting, the nightmare scenario

Max Verstappen and Fernando Alonso stand next to Lewis Hamilton — Photo: © IMAGO

F1 2026

F1 Doomsday: Verstappen, Hamilton and Alonso all quitting, the nightmare scenario

The trio have won 13 championships between them

Sam Cook Digital Journalist

Sports Journalist who has been covering motorsport since 2023

Monday 13 April 2026 21:14 Updated: 21:52

It is F1's Doomsday - Max Verstappen, Lewis Hamilton and Fernando Alonso all leaving the sport in 2026. And as we sit here on April 13, it is entirely possible.

There is a world in which these three greats of the sport - with 13 world championship titles between them - all decide to hand the sport its nightmare scenario by calling time on their careers at exactly the same moment.

The new regulations which Verstappen hates, the disaster unfolding at Aston Martin and a potentially wild silly season incoming means that absolutely everything is in play here, including that grimmest of outlooks for the immediate future of F1.

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It seems unthinkable but here we are. So how did it come to this? And what would the future look like if it does happen?

Will Max Verstappen really quit F1?

Verstappen is understood to be 'seriously considering' his future in F1 beyond the end of this current season.

The Dutchman has described the new F1 cars as 'not fun' to drive, and has likened F1 2026 to Mario Kart or 'Formula E on steroids'.

A Red Bull exit is almost certainly on the cards unless the team can drastically improve as 2026 progresses, but how likely is an F1 exit?

Well Verstappen does have plenty of hobbies outside of F1, including owning a GT3 team and racing in GT and sim events.

Next month, Verstappen will take to the Nurburgring Nordschleife once more for the 24 Hours of Nurburgring endurance race, and the Dutchman has been warming up for that with a few other races around the iconic circuit.

He clearly gets lots of enjoyment out of this type of racing, so what's stopping him going to do that full time?

Sceptics will say money, optimists will say that he cares more about F1 than he is letting on.

Will Fernando Alonso sign a new contract?

This is the question on everybody's lips. As it stands, Alonso will not be an Aston Martin F1 driver in 2027.

The 44-year-old Spaniard signed a contract extension back in 2024 which took him to the end of this season, presumably to see whether or not the team had managed to realise their ambitions amid the regulation changes of becoming a championship-contending outfit.

That has not happened. And, arguably, he is in the worst car that he has ever had to drive in F1.

Alonso has only managed to finish one grand prix so far this year, with Aston Martin suffering from awful reliability issues.

Their Honda power unit is significantly down on power output, and is even causing vibrations so intense that Alonso and team-mate Lance Stroll fear permanent nerve damage.

You would forgive the man who has raced in more grands prix than anybody else in F1 history for saying enough is enough and walking away when it contract expires.

But, in better news for Alonso fans, the Spaniard said last year that whether or not he signed a new contract would depend on Aston Martin's performance levels. He said that he would find it easier to walk away if they gave him a car this year that could challenge for race wins, but that he would likely sign a new deal if they were still lagging behind.

In this sense, it appears that he would be favouring the latter option. But Aston Martin aren't just lagging behind the top teams in the sport, they are plum last in the constructors' championship. The team could take years to rebuild.

Will Alonso, fresh off welcoming his first child into the world with partner Melissa Jimenez, have the patience to wait around for that to happen?

Will Ferrari replace Lewis Hamilton?

Unlike Alonso and Verstappen, whether or not Hamilton continues in the sport in 2027 might not be in his own hands.

The seven-time world champion is the most successful driver in the history of the sport, but his performances in recent seasons compared to his team-mates at Mercedes and Ferrari have not been good.

Hamilton has finished behind his team-mates in the drivers' championship in three of the last four seasons, culminating in an 86-point defeat by Charles Leclerc last year.

Hamilton has started 2026 in better form, but is still behind Leclerc in the drivers' championship, and Ferrari might just be beginning to think they can get someone in to do a similar job to Hamilton but at a fraction of the cost.

Ollie Bearman, for example, would not have a base salary of $60million per season.

Hamilton is out of contract at the end of this year, but there is an option to extend it for another year. Whether that happens or not will likely depend on Hamilton's performances between now and the summer break.

There is of course also the spectre of Verstappen coming into play for Ferrari - surely if the Dutchman becomes available this summer then John Elkann and Fred Vasseur have to be in the market. And Lewis, despite his incredible career to date, could be the odd man out.

What would losing all three mean for F1?

It is almost unthinkable - an F1 grid without not only its three biggest names, but perhaps more importantly its three biggest personalities.

There would be a seismic shift for the sport from experienced legends who have captured fans from a number of different generations, to a collection of young, talented racers.

Overnight, the biggest names in the sport would be George Russell, Lando Norris and Charles Leclerc, three drivers who are reflective of the 'F1 Twitter' and Drive to Survive era of the sport, and bring with them younger F1 audiences.

But there would be just one world champion on the grid in Norris, and he has just the one title to his name, rather than the 13 that we would be losing through the departures of Hamilton, Alonso and Verstappen.

F1 moves through eras and generations of drivers as the years fly by, but losing three huge names all in the same season would be catastrophic for F1.

For a sport which now prides itself on delivering storylines and narratives to feed the voracious appetite of a rabid fanbase, it would be a bitter pill to swallow.

The last F1 season without Alonso, Hamilton and Verstappen?

The 2002 F1 season was the last where the grid did not feature either Lewis Hamilton, Fernando Alonso nor Max Verstappen. Hamilton would not make his debut for another five years, Verstappen for another 13. Alonso meanwhile had made a temporary exit from F1. Following his debut season in 2001 with Minardi, he returned to Renault as a test driver and was being primed for a 2003 seat with the French team.

The grid itself was lacking top talent. Michael Schumacher at that point was clear top dog with four world titles to his name, but following the retirement of Mika Hakkinen there was only one other world champion on the grid in 1997 winner Jacques Villeneuve. Even then, the Canadian was on a downward trend with midfield team BAR.

Future world champions Kimi Raikkonen and Jenson Button were on the grid, but otherwise Schumacher's closest challengers came from his own Ferrari team-mate Rubens Barrichello, Williams pair Juan Pablo Montoya and Michael's brother Ralf Schumacher, as well as McLaren pair Raikkonen and David Coulthard.

Written by

Sam Cook - Digital Journalist

Sam Cook is a talented young sports journalist and social media professional who now specialises in Formula 1, having previously worked as a football journalist and a local news reporter for a variety of different brands.

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F1 Red Bull Max Verstappen Lewis Hamilton Ferrari Aston Martin