Verstappen beyond frustrated as 2026 woes continue in Japan

Max Verstappen says he needs to personally figure out life in Formula 1 as his discontent with new regulations continued following a Q2 exit at the Japanese Grand Prix.

Red Bull has started the season uncompetitively but Verstappen’s frustrations have been focused on the new style of driving required in the 2026 cars, with harvesting energy and deployment a significant factor in delivering a quick lap time. After qualifying 11th at Suzuka on Saturday, Verstappen suggested he is considering how his future in the sport looks.

“I'm not even frustrated anymore, I'm beyond that,” Verstappen said. “So that's a bit... I don't know the right word in English for it. I don't know what to make of it, to be honest … There's probably no word. I don't get upset about it. I don't get disappointed or frustrated by it anymore with what's going on, so…

“For sure we'll fix a few things hopefully in the coming weeks, months. The rest you know how I think about a lot of stuff. I don't need to mention it again. So, a lot of stuff also for me personally to figure out.”

Pushed on what he meant on a personal front, Verstappen added: “Life. Life, here.”

The four-time world champion made clear his discontent is not with Red Bull itself, and also appreciates why there is not unanimity in wanting changes to the regulations in a direction he would prefer.

“I enjoy working with everyone, for sure,” he said. “Everyone is of course also trying their best. But it's a lot of stuff together at the moment, which is not as nice for me. But that has nothing to do with the people in the team, because I know they work very hard and they give everything to give me basically the best opportunity.

“It depends what they decide for next year. This year I know they're trying their best, but it's also political, right? – which I fully understand of course – from other manufacturers, rightly so. I'm not bitter about that or anything.

“It's also not about me being in a position that I am in terms of P7 to 11, 12. I just hope that it will be just a little bit more fun to drive, as you know. But of course for this year it will be tiny little changes that doesn't really make a big difference. I just hope that the changes are big enough for next year.”

On his qualifying struggles, Verstappen – who was outqualified by teammate Isack Hadjar in eighth place – says the car is not responding to changes in the way he would like, and leaving him with unpredictable handling.

“We made changes all weekend, but at the same time we also have some problems in the car that we tried to fix,” he said. “It was worse again in qualifying compared to FP3, so as soon as you really try to push, for me it was just all over the place. Really not good and also really doesn't give you confidence to attack any corner. For me, I was just stuck, I couldn't push more.

“Let's say drivability can always be better, I think everyone will say the same thing – shifting, everything – [but] I don't think that's our biggest problem actually. Because from the car side, I think we are really struggling at the moment, also to keep it consistent. There are problems that we know are in the car that we are trying to fix, but every session can be a different problem.”