Stefano Domenicali told he’s ‘failed’ as F1 boss if Max Verstappen decides to walk away

Photo by Dan Istitene - Formula 1/Formula 1 via Getty Images

Stefano Domenicali has been warned that he’s failed as F1 boss if he allows Max Verstappen to leave the sport.

The four-time world champion, now in his fourth season with Mercedes, hasn’t had the best of starts to the 2026 season.

After three rounds, Verstappen sits ninth in the standings with just 12 points. He’s already 60 points behind early leader Kimi Antonelli and hasn’t managed a podium finish so far.

He’s made no secret of his frustration with the sport’s new regulations, which he’s previously called ‘anti-driving’.

And after the Japanese Grand Prix, reports emerged suggesting Verstappen is ‘seriously considering’ retiring from F1 at the end of this season. The 28-year-old still has one year remaining on his contract, but an exit clause tied to Mercedes performance could see him leave earlier than expected.

Domenicali under fire over Verstappen’s future

Mark Grain, the former McLaren staff member, shared his thoughts on the situation during an episode of The Two Mechanics podcast. He believes that if Verstappen does decide to step away, it reflects poorly on how the sport is being managed.

“I know Max doesn’t like the regulations, and it’s not an uncompetitive car at Red Bull that is giving Max the ache, it’s this generation of cars,” he said.

“Even if he has a fast Red Bull, I would still say Max is still going ‘Yeah, won the race, but these cars are horrible’.

“If Stefano Domenicali lets Max go out of Formula 1, I see that as a failure. To let the most talented race car driver on the planet – who is the fastest in the world – then he should be in Formula 1.

“If he’s not there then that’s a failure of Formula 1 as an organisation.”

Former Red Bull mechanic says F1 has already missed the mark

Kenny Handkammer, who used to be a Red Bull mechanic, backed up Grain’s comments about Verstappen, adding that the sport had already fallen short under the new regulations.

He said: “And then there are these rumours, well, they aren’t rumours, it is happening, there is this massive scramble to reconfigure the regulations for Miami.

“Which is already a failure, right? They’ve already failed if you are having to rewrite the regs four races in.”

But Grain took a different view of the regulation changes, seeing them more as a natural step forward than an outright failure.

Grain said: “I see that as an evolution. I think these regs are such a big step that it was always going to take a lot of debugging and I know this is under-egging it. I know it’s a bigger challenge.

“But you had to get out there. You had to get racing. It needs these reworks.”

Kenny Handkammer then replied: “I agree with that, but you would’ve thought with the capacity of the FIA and how many years they have worked on it that it would come out of the box a bit cleaner.”

The start of Formula 1’s new era has been rocky so far, and those in charge will need to work hard if they want to keep Verstappen involved and help grow its fanbase.

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