Max Verstappen is questioning everything: is Formula 1 losing its main protagonists? Helmut Marko calls for immediate changes.
There is something not quite right at the heart of modern Formula 1—this is becoming increasingly clear. Not in the numbers, not in the statistics, not in the constructors’ titles. The issue lies in the control room, in the way drivers—the absolute protagonists of this sport—perceive the car, understood as a philosophical and conceptual system beneath them. When someone like Max Verstappen begins to openly talk about walking away, it is worth stopping and reflecting seriously, without being carried away by blind fandom.
Helmut Marko, the long-time Red Bull advisor and influential figure now outside the official Milton Keynes team structure, has issued a direct appeal to the FIA: reduce the weight of hybrid systems, restore the central role of the internal combustion engine, and give back to Formula 1 that physicality and sense of control that drivers have progressively lost. This is not the nostalgia of a seasoned veteran—it is a symptom that the paddock can no longer ignore.
F1 – Verstappen at a crossroads: it’s not about results
The Max Verstappen case is emblematic. The four-time world champion is not simply going through a difficult spell—three races, no top-five finishes, ninth in the standings—but is questioning something deeper: the very meaning of continuing. He has announced that he will take time in the coming weeks to evaluate whether the sacrifices required by Formula 1—time away from family, constant pressure, a life spent between airports and circuits—are still worth it.
These words, spoken at 28 years old with 71 victories to his name, do not sound like the outburst of a driver frustrated with his team. They sound like an identity crisis of an athlete who no longer recognizes himself in the car he is driving. The RB22 is certainly a difficult car to master, with clear issues particularly on the chassis side. But Verstappen has made it clear that the main problem is not Red Bull’s competitiveness—it is the very nature of the modern car, dominated by software, energy management, and battery strategies that take autonomy and instinct away from the driver.
F1 – the hybrid dilemma: when the algorithm drives instead of the driver
Marko captures the issue perfectly when he speaks about the balance between battery and internal combustion engine. In today’s hybrid power units, energy recovery systems have reached such levels of complexity that driving has become more of an algorithmic equation than an athletic act. Drivers cannot simply drive—they must manage recovery maps, calibrate deployment under braking, and optimize every phase of the lap based on variables that change from race to race. The result is a sense of detachment from the car that goes beyond individual talent. And if this applies to Verstappen, it applies to everyone.
The 82-year-old Austrian’s request to the FIA is therefore clear: act immediately, without waiting for the 2026 regulations—which risk further increasing the role of electric systems—to reshape a sport that is already becoming unrecognizable to its protagonists. “Something needs to be done, and the driving aspect must return to the forefront,” he stated, explicitly calling for a reduction in the role of the battery and a renewed centrality of the internal combustion engine. Not as a nostalgic move, but as an act of sporting survival.
Will the FIA and Formula One Management respond to this appeal? The timing of regulatory bureaucracy rarely aligns with the emotional urgency of the paddock. But there is one fact that should accelerate every reflection: when the most dominant driver of the past four years seriously considers leaving, something structural has already broken. Formula 1 might be able to afford losing Verstappen—but it cannot afford to lose the soul of its drivers.
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