Four-time world champion, Max Verstappen insists that despite the fact that he's not enjoying F1 at present, he doesn't want to quit.

Even before he got to try F1 under the new rules for real he had warned of some of the issues the sport faced, energy management, closing speeds and so on, and last weekend he and his colleagues experienced the issues for real.

Combine this with the fact that the Mercedes appears to be the car (and engine) to beat, just as it was in 2014 onwards and one can understand why there has been talk of Verstappen seeking his thrills elsewhere.

"I don't really want to leave," he told reporters in Shanghai today. "Like I said, I wish I had a bit more fun, for sure, but I'm also doing other stuff that is a lot of fun.

"I get to race the Nordschleife," he smiled, referring to his entry in the 2026 24h Nurburgring in a Mercedes-AMG GT3," and I hope in the coming years I can do Spa-Francorchamps, hopefully Le Mans, you know.

"So I'm combining stuff to find other things that I really enjoy as well. I have my team going on, so I have a lot of distractions at the same time, positive distractions, I would call them."

Other than the fact that he simply loves racing, Verstappen has admitted that his ventures away from F1 have helped him with his frustration with the so-called pinnacle of motorsport.

"It's a bit conflicting," he admitted, "because I don't really enjoy driving the car, but I do enjoy working with all the people in the team and from the engine department as well. So, it's almost like a bit of a mind... I can't swear it's a 5k fine," he laughed.

"So no, I don't want to leave. But I also hope, of course, that it gets better. I've had discussions with F1 and the FIA, and I think we are working towards something hopefully, and hopefully that will improve everything."

Asked about Charles Leclerc's claim last weekend that the new breed of cars are like Mario Kart, the Dutchman smiled: "I've found a cheaper solution, I swapped the simulator for my Nintendo Switch. I'm practicing with Mario Kart, actually. Finding the mushrooms is going quite well, the blue shells is a bit more difficult. I'm working on it. The rocket is still not there, it's coming!"