George Russell expressed that Formula 1 would not want to lose Max Verstappen but would understand if he chose to leave due to dissatisfaction with the new car rules. Verstappen is considering his future in F1 after a challenging season.
Key points
George Russell commented on Max Verstappen's potential departure from F1
Verstappen is dissatisfied with new car rules
Russell acknowledges F1 is bigger than any driver
Verstappen's highest finish this season is sixth
Max VerstappenGeorge RussellFormula 1
George Russell and Max Verstappen smiling prior to the F1 Grand Prix of Abu Dhabi in December 2025
Max Verstappen's highest finish so far this season is sixth [Getty Images]
George Russell says Formula 1 "would not want to lose" Max Verstappen - but he would "understand" if the four-time world champion decided to leave the sport this year.
Verstappen said at the Japanese Grand Prix that he was considering his future in F1 because of his dissatisfaction with how the cars behave under new rules introduced this year.
Russell, who has had a difficult relationship with Verstappen in the past, said: "Formula 1 is bigger than any driver, so you wouldn't want to lose Max, because I think we all enjoy racing against Max."
But the British driver added: "You'd understand if he stayed and you'd understand if he went."
Verstappen's concerns centre on the new power-units introduced this year, and the degree of energy management required.
The engines have a near 50-50 split between internal combustion and electrical power. This, as well as a series of complex regulatory constraints, has introduced a new form of driving and racing.
Verstappen does not enjoy either of the two main changes - qualifying laps are no longer on the limit at all times, in the traditional sense, because of the need to recharge the battery; and racing is being affected by the large variations in battery charge level and the new "overtaking" and "boost" modes - all of which leads to huge speed differentials between cars.
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Russell said he believed Verstappen's complaints were influenced by the fact the Dutch driver's Red Bull team have not started the season with a competitive car.
"I didn't enjoy driving the 2022 car when it was porpoising up and down, killing everybody's backs," said Russell, whose Mercedes team have won all three races this year.
"The car was big, it was heavy. The high-speed corners, it wasn't very pleasant to drive around. But he didn't have the same complaint, because he was winning.
"Now, the complaints that he has currently are different to the complaints of Mercedes, Ferrari and McLaren, because we're at the front end of the grid. This is only natural, and you do understand and recognise the frustration."
Russell said Verstappen's success was also an important factor in his thinking. The 28-year-old is also starting to race in sport cars, especially at the iconic Nurburgring Nordschleife, a 14-mile circuit in Germany regarded as the most challenging track in the world that is too dangerous for modern F1.
"He's achieved what most drivers dream of, which is winning a championship," Russell said. "He's got four of them. There's not really much more for him to achieve in Formula 1. He's ticked all the boxes.
"Maybe he can go after the records. But knowing him as I do and knowing drivers who have won or achieved similar things, at one point, you want to do what puts a smile on your face.
"I can totally understand why driving the Nordschleife puts a smile on his face. I've driven hundreds of laps around it on the simulator. And I would love to have that chance to go and race around the Nordschleife.
"But my goal now is to become a Formula 1 world champion. If I have four of them under my belt, I'd probably be doing the same, so he's in a very different stage of his career."
What is the 'low-hanging fruit' on engine rules?
Russell is a director of the Grand Prix Drivers' Association and said it had fed into ongoing talks aimed at addressing some of the drivers' complaints about the new rules.
"The two headline points are flat-out qualifying, so no lift and coast, and then reducing the closing speeds," Russell said.
He added that there was "a lot of low-hanging fruit" that rule-makers could address.
Among these is to remove a lower limit at which teams can recharge the cars' batteries when at full throttle - known as 'super-clipping' in F1 jargon.
At the moment, this is set at 250kw, rather than the maximum recharge limit of 350kw which can be applied when a driver has lifted off the throttle and/or is braking.
Having the lower limit means drivers are forced to do more 'lift and coast' - when they lift off the accelerator and let the car run before braking for a corner.
"The minus 350 kilowatts super-clip is a no-brainer, and that already in itself is going to avoid a lot of lift and coast," Russell said.
"And there's other small parts of the regulation that say you can only de-rate the engine [recover energy] at a certain rate. So on a very short straight, there isn't enough time to go from 350kw to a super-clip because the straight is too short.
"Some small changes around these regulations will have a major improvement for the overall driving experience.
"This break's offered a good opportunity for everyone to go around that loop. The FIA have been in a lot of comms with a handful of drivers."
Kimi Antonelli and George Russell celebrate on the podium with Hywel Thomas, managing director of Mercedes AMG High Performance Powertrains, after F1's Australian Grand Prix in 2026
Kimi Antonelli (left) finished second in Australia to Russell, whose lowest finish this season is fourth in Japan [Getty Images]
Russell headed into the five-week break enforced on F1 by the cancellation of the Bahrain and Saudi Arabia Grands Prix second in the championship, trailing team-mate Kimi Antonelli by nine points.
The Chinese and Japanese Grands Prix did not go Russell's way - he had a technical problem in qualifying in China, where Antonelli took pole position and converted into a win, and in Japan a safety car helped the Italian teenager leap to the front after a slow start.
Russell said: "When I look at the circumstance of the last two races, I actually feel like I've maximised my results and that's all I can do.
"As long as I maximise my points by the end of the season, what happens race by race, no-one remembers. And that is my goal.
"That is what I'm confident in achieving over a course of a championship, consistency. Good results on the bad days, victory on the good days, and that is going to continue to be my goal every single weekend."
Antonelli, who has won two of the three races, said: "It's been a better start than what we all anticipated and hoped for, at least on my side. Expectations are automatically a bit different now.
"But I still try to keep the same mindset as I had in the first three races, just trying to put myself in the best position as possible to then achieve a great result.
"What I don't want to do is start to think about the final result or a long-term result."
