Having already secured four Formula 1 drivers’ championship titles, Max Verstappen has set his sights on “smaller achievements” in the series after completing his F1 bucket list.
The Dutchman claimed four consecutive titles between 2021 and 2024, and narrowly missed out on the 2025 trophy to McLaren’s Lando Norris. While reflecting on his achievements, which also include 71 grand prix wins, 128 podium finishes, 48 pole positions and 37 fastest laps, Verstappen admitted that his main F1 career ambitions have already been fulfilled.
Instead, the 28-year-old’s focus has shifted towards more nuanced, technical milestones. Speaking ahead of the Monaco Grand Prix, Verstappen told Vogue: “I would like, of course, to win a championship again. But no—there’s no real bucket list. The main ones have all been completed.
“What I want now are smaller achievements—like achieving a win on our own power units, stuff like that. I’m just passionate about racing, and trying to build more knowledge—even down to computing power, and AI, which is in a way quite scary, but cool. You need to be a little bit of a geek for these kinds of things, but I like it.”
Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing
Photo by: Sam Bagnall / Sutton Images via Getty Images
Red Bull entered the 2026 season having built its own power units. The Milton Keynes outfit’s long-standing power unit partnership with Honda came to an end in 2025 and it shifted its efforts to Red Bull Powertrains in collaboration with Ford.
This came at the turn of the regulations, which now focus on an almost 50:50 split between internal combustion and electric power, although this is expected to be altered in 2027.
After the opening five rounds of the season, Red Bull sits fourth in the constructors’ standings with 57 points, Verstappen is seventh in the drivers’ standings with 43 points and his new team-mate Isack Hadjar is 12th with 14 points.
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– The Motorsport.com Team