Only two races into a new Formula 1 season, and it appears that Max Verstappen has reached his boiling point.
His Chinese Grand Prix ended with a quiet roll down pit lane and a DNF beside his name, after which the four-time world champion had far more to say about the state of racing in F1 than about his own result.
Running sixth before being told to park the car, Verstappen’s frustration boiled over afterward as he delivered one of his most pointed critiques yet of the current generation of cars and race dynamics.
"It's not about being upset at where I am, because I'm actually fighting even more now," the Dutchman told reporters. "I would say the same if I was winning races, because I care about the racing product."
Verstappen has been outspoken about the rules since the opening race in Australia.
Going into a race in Shanghai, he said the style of racing produced by the modern regulations — particularly the heavy reliance on energy deployment and battery management — has turned wheel-to-wheel action into something far removed from traditional racing.
“It’s not fun at all, no,” he said. “It’s playing Mario Kart. This is not racing.”
His Red Bull Racing car continues to lack the outright pace to challenge the top teams at the front, as Verstappen spent much of the afternoon battling midfield teams like Alpine and Haas.
But even those fights, he said, felt artificial.
“Look at the racing,” Verstappen explained. “You are boosting past, and then you run out of battery the next straight, they boost past you again. For me, it’s just a joke.”
For Verstappen, the criticism is not about a single race result or a difficult weekend. Instead, he believes the underlying concept behind the current regulations is fundamentally flawed.
When asked whether the rules could still be fixed, Verstappen was blunt.
“You can help it a little bit,” he said. “But it’s fundamentally flawed.”
He even floated a familiar suggestion — the return of louder, simpler power units such as V8 engines — though he acknowledged that such a change is unlikely in the near future.
Verstappen also believes that other teams share similar concerns.
“I think I speak for most of the drivers,” he said. “Some will say it’s great because they are winning races, which is fair enough. When you have an advantage, why would you give that up?”
Still, Verstappen warned that prioritizing this style of racing could have long-term consequences for the sport.
“I hope they don’t think like that because it will eventually ruin the sport,” he said. “It will come back and bite them in the ass.”
Despite the strong language, Verstappen maintained that dialogue with Formula 1 officials remains ongoing. The challenge, he said, lies in achieving enough consensus among teams and stakeholders to implement meaningful change.
“Not everyone needs to agree, but most of the people have to agree to make changes,” he explained. “But like I said, it’s political. Some people feel they have the advantage now and they want to use that — rightly so, I get that.
“At the same time, if you look at it for the sport, it’s just not good.”
One possible way to avoid similar situations in the future, Verstappen suggested, would be to give drivers a greater role in shaping the regulations themselves — though he admitted that idea is unlikely to become reality.
“Yeah, I wish,” Verstappen said. “But I don’t think that will happen.”
In his view, the warning signs for the current situation were already visible years ago.
“They should have listened already in 2023 to see this coming,” he said. “Unfortunately, they didn’t, but maybe it’s a lesson for the future.”
Verstappen’s weekend only reinforced his frustration. Starting Sunday’s race buried in the field after another chaotic opening lap left him 16th, the Dutchman fought his way back toward the points before the eventual retirement ended his afternoon.
Toto Wolff, CEO and team principal of Mercedes, suggested Verstappen’s frustration might also reflect the difficulties currently facing Red Bull.
“I mean, Max is really in a horror show,” Wolff said. “When you look at the onboard that he had in qualifying yesterday, that is just horrendous to drive. And you can see that, but it’s not the same with many other teams.”