The glaringly obvious reason why everyone should listen to Max Verstappen's F1 criticism

Four-time F1 champion Max Verstappen has been going through it this season.

The 2026 campaign may only be three races in after both the Bahrain and Saudi Arabian Grands Prix were cancelled, but it has already become clear that Verstappen's Red Bull F1 squad are far from competitive.

The Dutchman has hardly kept quiet regarding his reservations with F1's overhauled power unit regulations, with Dutch media reporting that he is even 'seriously considering' retirement from the sport altogether if things don't drastically improve.

The 28-year-old has truly divided the sport, whilst some drivers and pundits support Verstappen's view that the new regulations are worsening the qualifying of racing, some have accused him of merely complaining due to his poor start to the season.

Just this week, Mercedes rival George Russell said he can't get on board with Verstappen's negative view of the new machinery, having previously also implied that if the Red Bull star was winning, he wouldn't be so vocal about his complaints.

Russell currently sits P2 in the drivers' standings after the opening three rounds whilst Verstappen is struggling way down in ninth.

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Verstappen correct to point out F1 flaws

After numerous meetings with the teams, stakeholders, power unit providers and drivers including both Russell and Verstappen, the FIA have partially listened to criticism, with tweaks on the way for next weekend's Miami GP.

Nevertheless, Verstappen is likely to remain wary over the changes given that he described F1 in 2026 as being more like 'Formula E on steroids' just two months ago.

Though the 28-year-old was hit with plenty of backlash over his statement in February 2026, former F1 manager Peter Windsor has laid out exactly why everyone should be paying more attention to Verstappen's concerns.

During a recent livestream, the F1 journalist was asked whether Verstappen was overdoing it with his constant complaints over the new regulations, suggesting he wouldn’t take issue with them if he was ‘two seconds ahead’ of his rivals. But Windsor strongly disagreed.

"I don't think he's complaining too much. I think he's just describing what is the situation," Windsor responded.

"You could argue that it's because the Red Bull is not very good at the moment that Max's voice is being heard louder than anybody else's because for the first time in his career, he's not able to do much about it.”

“We've had plenty of opportunities and times in the past when the Red Bull hasn't been that good in terms of balance or grip, front end, shift, upshift, downshift, all the stuff that he's always moaning about, but he usually with the team is able to get around it and find some way of being able to do the lap but for the first time in a bad car he's unable to do that.

"So that is the reason that people should be listening to him.

“You know, when a car's good and a team's winning, fine. And of course, everybody likes to win races, whether you're Max Verstappen or Kimi Antonelli. But it's interesting that for the first time in Formula 1 since the Max era, we’re seeing him in a bad car that he’s unable to do anything about.

“That's the real point. And I think he is quite correct then in pointing that out."

Windsor then delivered one final blow to the viewer who had sent in the question, concluding: "Why people would think a four-time world champion who is pointing that out in a very rational way is moaning too much…they're obviously not listening to what he's saying or thinking about the sport enough."

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Written by

Kerry Violet - F1 News Editor

Having graduated from the University of Sheffield with a 2:1 in Journalism in 2022, Kerry continued her pursuit of finding a full-time position in motorsport through work with the F1 Arcade in London, where she got to meet true fans of the sport and make a live grand prix watch party memorable for them. It was here that she confirmed her dream of combining her background in journalism and love of motorsport, going on to volunteer with the female-led platform Empoword Journalism. Having completed stints as a screen editor and sports editor, Kerry landed her first F1-specific editorial role with GPFans and has thoroughly enjoyed continuing to work closely with the sport ever since. The access GPFans offers Kerry has allowed her to interview big names such as Naomi Schiff and David Coulthard and given her experiences she could only have dreamt of as a young F1 fan.

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