Reportedly, Max Verstappen lost the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix to his teammate Sergio Perez because his car gave a lot of driveshaft issues. Checo was lucky that his RB19 didn’t trouble him at all, and Max was way back to P15. Otherwise, he would not have won, said many of Verstappen’s fans. But in the Azerbaijan Grand Prix, Max and his fans went through a little reality check. Perez’s victory with no luck or miracle-like circumstances, all with his incredible moves, is indeed a reply to the haters who claim him to be just a second driver of the Bulls, not as good as Max. Well, now that we know Sergio Perez is already the best contender for the championship in 2023, what about Max Verstappen? What mindset is he moving with? What happened to his dreams?
The former F1 world champion Damon Hill has shown concerns about Max Vertsappen’s early retirement announcement. Hill is afraid that Max is losing the motivation to become GOAT. Neither did Max win the first sprint of the season, nor he won two races consecutively. Moreover, he got involved in a clash with the Mercedes driver George Russell. The heating moments shared between the pair led to the rise of another rivalry in Formula One. As fans are expecting, Max will not spare Russell in future races. But wait! Is this what Max should do? “Hasn’t Max been off-tune this entire week?” asked Damon Hill in a recent interview.
Max Verstappen Is Behaving Very Odd! Who Leaves In the Middle Of the Championship?
Hill suggests that the Red Bull master is looking like he is kind of done himself down, disappointed with the result of the sprint. It was not a good racing on Saturday for the two-time world champion. He got overpassed by his very known rival, Charles Leclerc, two times. Perhaps, all these things worked negatively on his motivation to continue with his dream of becoming a GOAT F1 driver.
The former Formula One driver got the sense that, at the moment, there is something out of sorts with the Dutchman. He keeps on saying things like, “I won’t race beyond 30.” And from a champion’s point of view, this is really disappointing. “This is some weird stuff. Why is Max even talking about retirement now when he is right in the middle of winning championships?” said Damon.
However, not only Damon Hill feels things to be odd with the Dutch driver, another F1 pundit, Naomi Schiff, thinks the same. “I was surprised,” she said, commenting on Verstappen’s retirement plans. It just does not fit perfectly with a driver like Max Verstappen, who always remains hungry for the win. For the person who says the second position means you are a loser to the first. How is it even possible to take steps back when it comes to the battle for more championships?
Unfortunately, no one can do anything except for being surprised like Naomi is. She elaborated on her thoughts, stating, “I am really surprised by the fact that Max has mentioned he is not in f1 to have several World titles and that he would rather retire.”