Max Verstappen has started doing his homework on the long-term effects of an F1 career. The Dutchman has never made a secret of his desire to retire from Formula 1 relatively early, with no intention of reaching the 40-year-old milestone already surpassed by Lewis Hamilton and Fernando Alonso. Yet, in a recent conversation with the two-time Spanish world champion, Max Verstappen seemed genuinely interested in how a driver’s body responds to the sport as the years roll by. The answer he received was, in some ways, surprising—highlighting that it isn’t necessarily reflexes that suffer most in old age for a high-level professional athlete.
A candid chat with Alonso on the problems of aging
“I was on a plane headed to Qatar together with Fernando Alonso,” Max Verstappen explained during an extensive interview with the Dutch broadcaster Viaplay, “and we talked about it. It’s interesting for me to know because, well, he’s 44! So I asked him something like: ‘What do you think about it?’. I thought… ‘Let’s just try and ask him.’”
The four-time Red Bull world champion elaborated on the insights shared by his friend Fernando: “He told me that the biggest problem is more about physical discomfort than anything else. At that age, a driver has a few more nagging aches, and besides, these current cars certainly aren’t the best they’ve ever been to drive. When you’re older, you suffer more from these things, feeling more pain in your shoulders, your back, and your neck. When you are further along in age, therefore, it requires a much greater effort.”
Recently, Max Verstappen himself confessed that the current ground-effect era cars are particularly punishing on a driver’s body, causing significant issues for the back, shoulders, neck, and feet. Furthermore, he argued that these regulations have largely failed in their mission to make Formula 1 racing more spectacular and overtaking easier, given the persistent and well-known difficulties of following another car closely in “dirty air.”
Max Verstappen’s private conversation with Fernando Alonso highlights the grueling physical reality of modern Formula 1, especially for those competing well into their 40s. While reflexes remain sharp, the stiff nature of ground-effect cars combined with natural aging creates a cycle of chronic discomfort in the back, neck, and shoulders. For Max Verstappen—who has often hinted at a shorter career than his rivals—this insight into the physical toll of the sport only reinforces the challenges faced by veterans like Alonso who continue to push their bodies to the limit in an increasingly demanding technical era.
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