'Trailblazer' Max Verstappen backed to kickstart F1 retirement trend

Former F1 driver Derek Daly has suggested Max Verstappen could be a “trailblazer” in commencing a trend of walking away from the sport at a young age.

The Dutchman's F1 future currently has a major question mark hanging over it after the four-time champion voiced his disapproval with the new cars.

The 2026 challengers have undergone significant changes this year as part of a regulation overhaul - but they have left Verstappen far from impressed, who labelled them as “anti-racing” and “Formula E on steroids”.

Verstappen previously communicated that his enjoyment of the new cars would be crucial for his decision to remain in F1, having signalled his desire to partake in other racing projects.

When asked if Verstappen strikes him as someone who could opt to walk away from a title-contending car if he is not enjoying the experience behind the wheel, Daly exclusively told RacingNews365: “In this day and age, it's more likely than it ever was in the years past.

“They start younger, so they leave younger. They make more money younger than they did in the years past.

“With 24 races, it's more of a grind on your family and you physically and personally than it ever was before.

“I have no doubt the walk-away age will probably begin to come down. Maybe Max Verstappen, as he's done in the past, is a trailblazer in making decisions like that.”

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Daly backs 'engineer-based drivers' to succeed in 2026

However, Daly is hopeful that Verstappen will opt to stick around for several more years before calling time on his F1 career.

“I hope the regulations don't drive him away from the sport too early,” Daly said.

“He is, what I call, a gifted, natural racer.”

The new season will kick off in under two weeks' time at the Australian Grand Prix, where it will be discovered just how the new power units will impact racing.

Daly has predicted that it will no longer be the flat-out fastest driver who will emerge on top, but rather the driver who best understands how to harvest and deploy the electrical energy from the power unit.

“I wonder are we in a position now with these regulations where you have a driver who may not be as fast as a Max Verstappen, but has the brain capacity to multitask at a higher level than other drivers, and that gives him an advantage,” he said.

“You have a football player [who] is instant reflex, just brilliant, just get the ball anywhere close to them, they’re magical.

“Then you have a football player who's the thinker - he’s able to read the field and position the players, position himself and create situations.

“Nico Rosberg was always known [as a thinker]. Frank Williams called him an engineer when he went to him first, because he could talk like engineers, act like engineers, think like engineers.

“I wonder, do we have engineering-based drivers with the mental capacity to manage these cars at a higher level than pure out-and-out, instant reflex, fast drivers.

“I don’t want to see that. I want to see the gifted, fastest drivers in the world ultimately end up being able to race like that.”