Verstappen hints at F1 stay with racing 'set to go back to normal' under 2027 rules
Max Verstappen offered the clearest words yet on his future at Formula 1 during the Canadian Grand Prix press day in Montreal. "I'm in F1 to race. If the 2027 rules really bring the racing back, I stay. I'll wait another 18 months to say it for sure."
The four-time world champion's Red Bull contract runs to the end of 2028. He has nonetheless made two specific complaints public in recent months: the heavy hybrid architecture of the 2026 power-unit formula, and what he has called a slower steering-feedback response across the past three seasons. In Verstappen's phrasing, "the driver's fingers are getting smaller in the engine's decisions."
The 2027 rule package was confirmed at the FIA technical commission meeting in May. Its six headlines: a mass reduction (new minimum 745 kg, down from 800 kg), simplification of active aerodynamics, tyre widths reduced by 4 per cent (front 285 mm, rear 365 mm), electric-assist share down from 50 per cent to 30 per cent, driver-selectable gearbox output ratios, and a wider steering angle. The two items Verstappen prizes most are the weight cut and the lower electric share.
Damon Hill's recent BBC Sport piece read Verstappen's tone differently. Hill described the Dutchman's post-race protocol answers as "energetic again recently" and tied that to encouraging timing data from Red Bull's Spielberg test programme. Long-run simulations on the current RB22, before the switch to the F2027 test rig, signal to team engineers that the 2026 race package is hitting an envelope.
Indirect Mercedes contacts have been on the news cycle for some time. Toto Wolff's brief paddock conversation with Jos Verstappen in Spielberg was captured by Sky Sports; neither side commented on the content. Mercedes has surfaced as the most advanced of the 2027 engine projects, having pushed its hybrid compression technology forward with Honda. Technical director James Allison's wording in a recent statement included "we are evaluating top-tier options."
Verstappen's nod to Lewis Hamilton was also pointed. "I'm following Lewis. The decision to stay in F1 settles partly on a sporting calculus and partly on health and family information." Hamilton told Sky Sports F1 last week: "There are people trying to retire me, but I'll decide when I leave." The indirect conversation between the two champions has been a running theme of F1 coverage this month.
A related thread of the weekend is George Russell's contract horizon. Mercedes have the 27-year-old British driver under deal to the end of 2026. The Spielberg "Wolff-Verstappen" reading affects Russell's renewal negotiations directly. He told Sky Sports F1: "My relationship with Toto is rock solid, there's a lot of external noise"; he repeated a similar line at the FIA media conference this week in Montreal.
FIA president Mohammed Ben Sulayem addressed the 2027 package directly. "We designed this package to stay faithful to the essence of racing. We want to tilt the balance between driver and engineer back toward the driver," he said. The comments read as a direct response to Verstappen's grievances; the FIA-Verstappen dialogue has been on a measured warming curve for 18 months.
The Canadian Grand Prix runs on Sunday, 70 laps around the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve. Weather forecasts show 22°C, light morning rain and a clear afternoon. Red Bull's setup plan lowers ride height by 1 mm; over the last three Grands Prix at lower ride heights, the RB22 has gained 18 per cent in tyre-wear sustainability. The race's real reading still arrives in the 2026 title duel with McLaren's Lando Norris rather than 2027.
Verstappen's parting line at Montreal: "I'll wait to talk about the future. But I'd like to race in F1 for many years yet — if the rules make it possible." Fourteen months out, the Dutch driver remains at the centre of the FIA-Red Bull-Mercedes triangle.