Max Verstappen’s supremacy in F1 is getting even wilder. It is difficult to see an end to the dominance of the 25-year-old Red Bull driver in the next few years, writes Urheilu’s Joel Sippola.
Seven wins out of nine races. Five consecutive first places.
Max Verstappen’s, 25, superiority in F1 takes on even wilder tones. It says something about dominance that in the last 15 months Red Bull’s Dutch star has achieved more number one positions (22) than Kimi Raikkonen throughout his 19-season F1 career!
Last year Ferrari was able to challenge for a long part of the season, but this season Verstappen has been able to enjoy a car that no other team can do anything about. However, a competitive car should not be fooled. In the case of a superior car, you have to look at the difference between teammates.
Verstappen and by Sergio Perez Perez’s difference of 81 points says it all. Verstappen is ragging on his Mexican teammate like Lewis Hamilton with a Mercedes Valtteri Bottas.
Verstappen, who is aiming for his third consecutive world championship, was brilliantly successful even before his reign. Before his first championship year in 2021, he had won 12 times and reached the podium 42 times.
Verstappen, who debuted in the series at the age of 17, was still allowed to drive in the series for six seasons without a championship. Now the Dutchman has reached a position from which it is almost impossible to pry him away.
The F1 rules will not change significantly until 2026, so it is easy to promise a continuation of Red Bull’s dominance until at least 2025.
No challengers
Verstappen was already at a high level before his championships, but Lewis Hamilton being defeated in a fierce battle for the 2021 world title catapulted Verstappen to a whole new level mentally. With his first championship, Verstappen has gained the necessary composure and maturity for his actions.
Of course, the car also matters a lot, but at the moment it is difficult to find any driver in the series who could defeat Verstappen in the championship with even a slightly better car in the near future. Experienced successful drivers, Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton and Aston Martin Fernando Alonso are still driving at a high level.
However, the series’ most experienced drivers are no longer in such a shock that they could challenge Verstappen, who is in the best shape of his career. The best-before date for Hamilton, who turns 39 next year, has quickly passed. It doesn’t catch Verstappen’s eyes.
Verstappen has also taken mental cues from star drivers in the same age group, Ferrari’s About Charles Leclerc and Mercedes Of George Russell. Especially against Leclerc, Verstappen has taken several longer laps. Last year, Leclerc had a 46-point lead over Verstappen at the start of the season, but the Dutchman quickly eroded the gap and quickly sank into the landscape.
Leclerc and Russel have championship potential, but neither of them has the potential to become a multiple world champion like Verstappen.
Hamilton, who has won seven world championships, won his second World Championship title at the age of 29. He won his last championship at the age of 35. Verstappen turns 26 in September and has three championships at the end of the season. So Verstappen has up to ten years to chase a bunch more World Championship titles.
Of course, Verstappen’s motivation is very important. He has spoken that he may retire after the 2028 season. If there is enough motivation, it is difficult to find a stop for him.
An example of Räikkönen’s championship season
It takes freshness to stop Verstappen’s dominance. Something like the open-mindedness that a teenage Verstappen displayed in the early years of his F1 career.
It is still too early to say whether there is a challenger like Verstappen in the small formulas, but there are many potential young star drivers. Such names include British Oliver BearmanItaly Andrea Kimi Antonelliof the USA Ugo Ugochukwu and a 15-year-old Briton Arvid Lindblad.
In particular, Bearman, who belongs to Ferrari’s junior academy, and Antonelli, who is linked to Mercedes’ similar organization, are drivers who can drive in F1 very soon.
Speed, skills and open-mindedness alone are still not enough, because the right conditions are required to beat Verstappen. All these factors came together in 2007, when Lewis Hamilton got to drive his rookie season with a competitive McLaren.
The 22-year-old Hamilton upset his teammate Fernando Alonso, who celebrated the championship in the previous two seasons. It was a great show of skill from the young British driver. He lost the world championship to Kimi Räikkönen by just one point and ended up tied with Alonso.
The following season, he celebrated his first World Cup title.
McLaren dared to trust Hamilton, who won the GP2 championship in 2006, and did not, for example, put him in a small garage to learn the secrets of formula one. The same would be expected in the near future from, for example, Mercedes and Ferrari.
Would they be Verstappen’s stoppers?