Max Verstappen is embracing what is inarguably the most dominant spell of his decade-long racing career. While Formula 1 has seen the likes of Lewis Hamilton and Sebastian Vettel cooking up their own dominion during the 2010s, the Dutchman, along with his Red Bull squad, has spurred something far more special, almost emulating Michael Schumacher’s high-flying era with Ferrari.
Amidst such a flawless stint, the odds of seeing Verstappen fall from glory to obscurity are practically zilch. McLaren F1 boss Zak Brown, too, acknowledged the same but further added that the 2023 campaign has been an out-and-out Verstappen special while the highly praised Red Bull challenger only plays a menial role.
Speaking to ESPN, Brown opened up about Verstappen’s dominance in F1 and how this season would have panned out had the Dutchman been out of the picture.
Zak Brown had his say on the 2023 F1 drivers’ title fight 👀
“As much as Red Bull is killing everyone right now, it’s really Max who is killing everyone right now…”
Who do you think would be leading the way if F1 was without Verstappen? 🤔 pic.twitter.com/ICU9SZAUBT
— Autosport (@autosport) August 19, 2023
“As much as Red Bull’s killing everyone right now… it’s really Max is killing everyone right now. That Max, Red Bull combination is just unbeatable at the moment and Max and the team isn’t making any mistakes. If they had two Sergios in the car, with all due respect, this championship would kind of be wide open. So you’ve got something pretty special going on with Max and Red Bull,” he said.
Verstappen has secured the maximum on every possible occasion this season, finding himself with a hefty lead in the championship race. By the looks of it, even if Red Bull endure a dramatic downfall, Verstappen could still limp his way to a third consecutive championship victory.
Brown hoping rival F1 teams close down the gap to Max Verstappen & Red Bull
Although the 2023 season is yet to produce a nerve-wracking battle for the race win, there have been a handful of intense battles unfolding behind the front-runner, Verstappen. Therefore, Brown opined that if and when teams manage to bridge the gap between themselves and Red Bull, F1 could witness one of the most unpredictable seasons of all time.
Max Verstappen’s 2023 season so far:
– 8 consecutive wins (10 if you include Sprint Races)
– 10 wins, 7 pole’s
– No missed podium in any Grand Prix or Sprint Race
– Worst result is P3 (Sprint Race in Baku)
– 314 points out of 336 possible obtained pic.twitter.com/yrq2AlPTmL— Verstappen News (@verstappenews) August 19, 2023
“If you take Max out of it and take everyone who’s finished second this year and give them a win, it would be a pretty competitive, exciting championship. We’ve had a second, Aston’s had a second, Ferrari’s had a second, Mercedes has had a second, Sergio’s had a second,” the McLaren team principal said.
“You would have five teams that would have won a race this year. As soon as we all catch up to Red Bull I think that’s going to be the state of play for Formula One.”
Overall, the Dutch GP is just around the corner and one can certainly anticipate a tinge of surprises from a majority of the teams. But, will the surprises be significant enough to turn the fortunes around for Red Bull and their star driver Max Verstappen?