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The president of the FIA has declared: "Formula 1 is bigger than everyone," in response to the threat of the sport losing Max Verstappen. The Dutchman has publicly stated he is considering his future having so far not enjoyed racing this new generation of F1 cars.

It has been a difficult start to the season for Verstappen, whose fifth-placed finish in Miami last Sunday was his best result so far. But even that was a disappointing outcome, considering he had started on the front row of the grid in an upgraded Red Bull but suffered a spin on the opening lap which put him on the back foot.

That was the first race after F1 stakeholders agreed some tweaks to the rules in response to both safety concerns and also driver complaints about the style of driving the increased reliance on electrical power requires. It is also understood that there have been talks about the potential of more widespread changes for the 2027 season.

Verstappen wants the latter and is likely to hold off on making any decision about his future at least until he has learned what F1 racing next year is going to look like, in comparison to the current cars and ruleset. In any case, he also cannot trigger his Red Bull release clause until at least the summer break.

Should he eventually decide to walk away, FIA president Mohammed ben Sulayem is adamant that F1 will be just fine without the four-time world champion. "F1 is bigger than everyone - presidents come and go, teams come and go, promoters come and go and drivers come and go," he told reporters.

Regarding Verstappen's mindset and also his current results, he added: "When you are winning and suddenly you don't, of course, you express yourself, and I can understand this. It's the cycle of things. He won [the title] four times, and what were other people saying when he was winning?

"Now I hear Toto [Wolff, Mercedes team principal] saying to me, 'Everybody is against me', and I said, 'Yeah, but everybody was against Christian [Horner] in his time'. It's the cycle of life. People say things but do they mean it? If he goes, we will miss him, but the sport will go ahead. So many stars and teams have come and gone, but Formula 1 will always stay and the FIA will always stay."

He also questioned whether Verstappen is truly willing to follow through on his threats to quit the sport, adding: "In his mind, he's very strong. But after what happened, maybe last year and then this year, is something that I feel he had to throw out of his heart and say what he feels. But what he says, is it really what he wants to do? I really don't think so."