A former star of the F1 grid has declared that reigning champion Max Verstappen could leave the sport for good as he faces a race ban.

After being handed three penalty points at the Spanish GP last time out, Verstappen is now just one point away from a single-race ban.

Two of those penalty points will expire on June 30, taking the pressure off the four-time champion slightly if he can make it past this weekend’s Canadian GP and the following race in Austria without earning any more.

However, if the FIA were to rule that Verstappen had committed an offence at either of the next two grands prix worthy of another penalty, Red Bull would likely have to wave goodbye to their hopes of earning another championship with their star driver.

Christian Horner’s outfit could have an even bigger risk to contend with according to former F1 driver Juan Pablo Montoya, who recently claimed Verstappen could quit the sport forever if the FIA were to hand him a race ban.

“I think if Max gets a suspension, he’ll say, ‘I’ll leave and I won’t come back,'” Montoya said on the MontoyAS podcast.

Would FIA race ban rubbish Verstappen’s championship hopes?

According to the fiery ex-F1 star, both F1 and it’s governing body ​​are playing with fire when they remove someone like Verstappen out of the championship, even if it is just for one race.

Montoya continued: “If you take the world champion out of the race, what are you going to do? How are they going to react? How are they going to sabotage the race? I wouldn’t be surprised if the rules change before something like that happens.

Juan Pablo Montoya believes Max Verstappen could quit F1
“I think everything the FIA ​​does… They come up with rules and then they don’t think about them anymore until something happens again. Then all of a sudden they don’t know what to do.”

As McLaren extends their lead in the constructors’ standings the focus will only continue to shift to whether Verstappen can drag his RB21 to the top of the standings again, but if he were to miss out on even just one race weekend, the chances of his retaining the title could become slim to none.

If the Dutchman was not able to conclude his meteoric run with a record-equalling fifth consecutive title, who knows, Montoya may be right that Verstappen could be inclined to hang up his race suit.