According to the former Swiss driver, the introduction of new Formula 1 regulations has had a negative impact on the four-time world champions with Red Bull.
Verstappen: doubts about the future
The days go by and Max Verstappen is approaching this weekend’s NLS championship event at the Nürburgring Nordschleife. However, since the Japanese Grand Prix, one major question has remained: will the Dutch driver really retire from Formula 1? After the Suzuka weekend, the Red Bull driver did not hide his frustration with the new technical regulations introduced this year, even going as far as hinting at a possible exit from the sport.
On top of that, following the news that his race engineer Gianpiero Lambiase will move to McLaren in 2028, speculation has also increased about a potential switch to Woking forMax Verstappen in that same season.
The “curse” of Red Bull champions
Everything is still open to interpretation, but Max Verstappen’s early struggles under the new rules appear to echo those experienced by a former Red Bull driver: Sebastian Vettel. Also a four-time consecutive world champion with the Milton Keynes team (from 2010 to 2013), the German driver found it extremely difficult to adapt to the new regulations introduced in 2014, to the point where he never returned to the top of the world championship, also due to Mercedes’ dominance during that era.
The similarities between the difficulties of the two drivers were highlighted by Marc Surer, a former Formula 1 driver from the late 1970s and 1980s who is now a television commentator in Switzerland.
“It is exactly the same situation,” Marc Surer explained to formel1.de. “Vettel became world champion with the blown diffuser. Then the hybrid cars came with the new regulations (the transition from V8 to V6 turbo engines, editor’s note), the new rules, and that advantage disappeared. He was a genius at driving almost through the corner and accelerating immediately to generate more downforce. It is similar to what is happening today with Max Verstappen, because the regulations have taken away his main strength. He had a huge advantage in fast corners because he simply had courage. That is why his teammates always seemed to struggle so much. Now he cannot do that anymore.”
In summary, the parallels between Max Verstappen’s current frustration and Sebastian Vettel’s 2014 decline suggest that even the greatest drivers are at the mercy of technical shifts. Whether Verstappen will find a way to adapt or choose to walk away from the grid remains the most talked-about storyline of the 2026 season.
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