F1 champ Max Verstappen told to put up or shut up over retirement hints

Max Verstappen looking serious during an interview at the Japanese Grand Prix — Photo: © IMAGO

Formula 1

Max Verstappen told to put up or shut up over retirement hints

Martin Brundle has given some F1 wisdom to Max Verstappen

Originally written by Dan Ripley. This version is a translation.

Friday 3 April 2026 23:00

Martin Brundle has told four-time F1 champion Max Verstappen to put up or shut up over his complaints about the sport's new regulations.

The Red Bull star has cut a frustrated figure over the first month of the season, suggesting once again that he could quit the sport before his 30th birthday.

The Dutchman is not happy with the new rules and regulations that heavily rely on batteries and having to charge them by slowing down. This issue is exacerbated with Verstappen given his Red Bull is well off the pace and nowhere near to providing him with a chance to even get on a podium again let alone win the world championship.

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With a series of comments that have constantly attacked the new regulations and talking up other projects outside of F1, Verstappen's future in the sport is one of the major talking points heading into the enforced F1 break following the cancellations of the Bahrain and Saudi Arabian grands prix.

However, Sky Sports pundit and iconic F1 star Brundle believes Verstappen is not handling his complaints as best he can, and can perhaps learn from a seven-time world champion in the sport over how to fix any issues.

The Michael Schumacher way?

"But what a Schumacher, or whatever would have done is closed the door, thumped the desk, metaphorically, got hold of the right people by the throat, walked out and say and with a smile, and go, 'everything's fine'. And then if they don't sort it out, which we're looking forward to for Miami, then you start going on to the media."

Brundle though was not completely on Verstappen's side, claiming his constant moaning has become boring and that if he was to leave F1 he should do so or just quit complaining.

The former McLaren and Jordan star added: "Max is very unfiltered, isn't he - always has been - and he's talked a lot for a long time about 'I'm not in this for the long haul, I'm not gonna be hanging around here in my 40s' or whatever," Brundle told the F1 Show. "And Max would say 'it's getting a bit boring'. Now, I think it's getting a bit boring with what he's saying.

"You know, Either go or stop talking about it, because it is what it is you've got to make the most of it. I would hugely miss his talent, his generational speed and car control is something that very few people in the history of motorsport have had. It's quite extraordinary."

Formula 1