Recent refinements to the regulations leave Max Verstappen easing off in terms of walking away from F1.

The four-time world champion has been one of the fiercest critics of the 2026 rules overhaul, indeed he was expressing his doubts well over a year before the cars took to the track.

Since then, such is his frustration at the new rules, that he has talked of walking away from F1.

While the likes of George Russell insists that the sport would survive without Verstappen - which, of course, it would - the frenzy over his GT3 exploits, which now have a number of his colleagues looking beyond F1, suggest that his walking away would cause harm to the brand.

Speaking in Montreal however, the Dutchman played down talk his quitting F1, and while he feels the regulation changes recently announced don't go far enough, they are a step in the right direction.

"It's definitely heading into a very positive direction," he told reporters, when asked about the proposed change from a 50/50 split ICE/electric engine to 60/40. "I think it's like the minimum I was hoping for and I think it's really nice that that's what they want to do. That's definitely what I think also the sport needs."

Asked if this was enough to keep him in F1 next year, Verstapepn, who has a contract until 2028, replied: "Yes or no, it doesn't matter. For me, I'm happy where I'm at.

"I see the team really progressing," he continued, "and that's also very exciting to see. For me, I always wanted to continue anyway, but I always wanted to see change, and I think the change that's coming now is definitely very positive. Or at least, I would say, almost back to normal. So that's good."

The Dutchman was keen however to make clear that despite a poor start to the season, talk of walking away from F1 was about the rules and had nothing to do with his and his team's competitiveness.

"It was just depending on the future rules," he said. "So what I said before, with the changes hopefully that will happen next year, that will already help a lot, because I've always said it doesn't matter if I had a good car or not. It's just the product and I think the product will improve like that. So naturally I think then the enjoyment will go up as well."

Nonetheless, last weekend's experience at the Nurburgring, despite the ultimate disappointment, has shown him that there is life outside F1.

Asked if he will return to GT3, the response was instant.

"I do feel, of course, that it's a bit of unfinished business," he replied. "I want to win it, so I want to go back. But, of course, the calendar needs to allow it.

"It's definitely a race that I want to do more of. It's a different discipline. I enjoyed it a lot and it's something that I always wanted to do.

"Outside of Formula 1 there's a lot of other racing that you can do and that one was definitely on my list. If you look at the onboard footage you can understand why, it's brutal and just very exciting."