- Verstappen signals his F1 future is no longer guaranteed after horrible weekend.
- Patrese compares the Dutchman to the greats, Senna and Schumacher.
- Jos Verstappen fears his son is losing motivation, with Mercedes lurking.
Riccardo Patrese has issued a stark warning to Formula 1. The sport, he says, cannot afford to lose Max Verstappen.
The former Italian Grand Prix winner, who made 177 starts across nearly two decades in the sport, spoke out as Verstappen’s public frustration with the 2026 regulations reached a new pitch.
Patrese’s message was direct: Verstappen belongs in the same breath as Ayrton Senna and Michael Schumacher, and Formula 1 would be a smaller sport without him.
“No, we cannot lose Max from Formula 1 because he is the driver who makes the show so much better,” Patrese said via GrandPrix247. “F1 needs a driver like Max. F1 cannot afford to lose him, and F1 fans can’t afford to lose Verstappen from the show.”
Max Verstappen: A man beyond frustrated
The scene at Suzuka said everything. Verstappen climbed out of his Red Bull after the Japanese Grand Prix, finished eighth, 32 seconds behind the race winner, and walked straight into a media session that left little to the imagination.
He is 43 points behind championship leader George Russell after just four rounds. The Red Bull that once crushed the field now cannot even compete with the front-runners.
But the numbers were almost beside the point. What Verstappen said after the race was the main concern.
“I am not even frustrated anymore, I am beyond that,” he said. “I don’t know the right word in English for it, I don’t know it in Dutch either. There is no word. There are a lot of things for me personally to figure out.”
When asked what he meant, he offered two words. “Life… life here.”
This has been coming for some time. At pre-season testing in Bahrain in February, the 28-year-old unloaded on the new cars before the season had even begun. “Not a lot of fun, to be honest,” he said then. “I would say the right word is management. As a driver, the feeling is not very Formula 1-like. It feels a bit more like Formula E on steroids.”
The 2026 regulations introduced a 50-50 split between combustion and electrical power. Verstappen has taken particular issue with the energy harvesting and deployment demands the rules place on drivers.
He compared overtaking under the new system to “Mario Kart,” calling it artificial and far removed from what he believes racing should be.
These are not the words of a driver having just a bad weekend. They are the words of a man questioning whether he still belongs in the sport he loves.
Patrese says Verstappen is an irreplaceable talent
Patrese competed in Formula 1 through the V10 era. He knows what the sport felt like when it was loud and raw and relatively uncomplicated. He has watched it evolve, regulation by regulation, into something he barely recognises.
“It is very easy for me to agree with Max because I come from an era where F1 was loud and I would say simpler,” he said. “It’s very complicated; it’s complicated for us to understand. It’s complicated for the drivers to drive; it’s complicated for the team to manage to put together the package. And it’s complicated for the fans.”
Patrese is not just speaking as a former driver with a personal preference for a simpler era. He is making a case about what Formula 1 owes its audience.
And in that argument, Verstappen is central. “We have seen Max Verstappen can make the difference that only the very best drivers of the past, like Senna and Schumacher, could,” Patrese said. “It would be a big loss if he leaves Formula 1 because he is a great champion.”
What Patrese is saying is simple: the sport cannot treat Max Verstappen as though he is replaceable.
Could he walk away entirely?
Patrese does not dismiss the possibility that Verstappen could leave. He takes it seriously.
“Max has already said, if I don’t have fun, I can go racing in other places,” Patrese noted. “First of all, let’s see what the FIA says it has to put on the table to make things better. I hope they have the right cards to make the drivers happy.”
Verstappen himself has drawn a line. “I just hope that the changes are big enough for next year,” he said after Suzuka, leaving open the question of what happens if they are not.
However, Patrese believes Verstappen would not leave without one final attempt at glory. “It’s a frustrating season, but I think before leaving Formula 1, he would like to try to have another competitive car and maybe go for his fifth championship,” he said.
That would require either a resurgent Red Bull or a move to a front-running team, with Mercedes frequently mentioned in such discussions.
The Verstappen family’s mood adds to the pressure. Jos Verstappen told Dutch media last week that he fears his son could lose motivation entirely under the current rules.
Whether the FIA and Formula 1’s leadership act with enough urgency to change that picture is the question the sport now faces.
Patrese has offered his verdict on what failure would mean. Formula 1 without Verstappen would be poorer, quieter, and harder to watch. Right now, that outcome feels closer than it ever has.
