Max Verstappen could retire from F1 ‘sooner than we all think’, claims Red Bull advisor Helmut Marko
The Dutchman is charging towards a second successive title in F1 this year after beating Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton to the 2021 crown on the last lap of the controversial decider in 168澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果历史:Abu Dhabi following a fierce season-long battle.
Verstappen holds an 109-point lead over Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc heading into Sunday’s 168澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果历史:Italian Grand Prix at Monza and could wrap up this yea🎀r’s championship as soon as th🌌e next race in Singapore, if results go his way.
Given Red Bull’s supremacy this season, with Verstappen winning 10 of the 15 races so far, many have tipped the 24-year-old - wh𝕴o has already racke🧸d up 30 grand prix victories - to challenge Hamilton’s F1 records in the future.
But Marko has claimed that Verstappen may decide not to sticꦍk arounꦑd that long.
“We want to win more titles together,” he told Germany’s Spor♓t1.
“But I doubt if we will see Max drive until ꦍhe has broken all records.
“He could make it, but he’s also the type of person who packs his things and leaves when he no longer ☂feels like it.
“No matter how much you offer him, he won’t stay. And that couꦦ🅺ld happen sooner than we all think.”
Earlier this year, Verstappen signed a new five-year deal - reported ཧto be worth $55million a ye𓄧ar - to keep him at the team until 2028, when Verstappen will be 31.
Verstappen himself admitted in May that he could quit the sport o🦂nce his new contract expires.
“The plan is to stay here until 2028,” he said. “I 𝕴am not planning on changing teams. I am happy here and they are happy with me. But I have not made up my mind꧑ what I will do after 2028. I might stop.
“I have been in F1 since ꦜI was 17. It has been𒉰 a long time. I have done a lot of seasons in F1.
“I ma꧟y want to do different stuff. By 31, I don’t know whether I will have peaked or where the drop-off in performance may have occꩲurred.
“I want to do other types of races - endurance racing, for example. Maybe I will have had enough of travelling all🍌 the time. Maybe I will want an easier life and just to do the races I like.
“Whenever an opportunity comes to win a championship, you want to take it. If I am in a ꦬfight in 2028 it may be stupid to suddenly stop. It is difficult to know."
Lewis reꦉgularly attends Grands Prix for mahbx.com around the world. Often reporting on the action from the ground, Lewis tells the stories of the people who matter in the sport.
