Is Verstappen leaving? Patrese: “He’ll make his choice by the end of the year, he’s certainly fed up!”

Max Verstappen leaving Red Bull? Between the sirens coming from the other teams in Formula 1 and the hypothesis of taking a sabbatical away from the GPs, the hypothesis that Max Verstappen will leave Red Bull soon seems to be gaining ground. And if there are many expert former drivers who see the Dutch champion as far from the team with which he has won 4 world titles and 71 grand prix in the top series to date, the Italian Riccardo Patrese is now added to these. Speaking to the BettingLounge portal, the 72-year-old from Padua said he is sure that Super Max will make his decision by the end of the year, and that he will in any case leave Milton Keynes. Riccardo Patrese speaks “If Lambiase leaves – he explains – it means that Max Verstappen will also leave Red Bull next year. He doesn’t feel very comfortable so, at the end of this season, he will probably make his move. Max, first of all, must enjoy driving these cars. But it’s obvious that he doesn’t like it at all and he is a resolute enough person that I believe him when he says ‘if I don’t have fun, then I’ll leave F1’. He has already achieved satisfaction and achieved great goals in this sport, he has proven to be the best, and so on. If F1 changes and he finds a good feeling again, then he will continue, otherwise he could very well change category. He really likes GT racing. He’s fed up, that’s for sure.” “Yes, F1 is the pinnacle of motor racing,” added Patrese, “but he is already a four-time world champion. His bank account is full enough to allow him to live well for the rest of his life. So, he can do whatever he wants. In my time the earnings weren’t as high as they are now, but money wasn’t the thing we thought about anyway. We liked driving and we liked the challenge of F1. Now what is the challenge for a driver with these cars? The car does everything alone, it accelerates alone to recover energy and then have extra power to overtake in a straight line. You have to lift your foot to recharge the battery. It’s totally against the philosophy of a driver.