How Max Verstappen won F1 for a third consecutive year could make the tournament uncompetitive…

Max Verstappen wins the 2023 F1 world championship five races early. Photo: Formula 1

On October 8, Max Verstappen learned that he would become the 2023 F1 world champion when the sprint race in Qatar had not yet ended. His main rival, Sergio Perez, did not ensure the necessary conditions (at least a Top 3 finish) to be able to hold on to hope.

This is the third consecutive year Verstappen has won the world championship.

This is not the longest winning streak in F1 history. Previously,  Lewis Hamilton  won 6 consecutive years (out of 7 championships), Michael Schumacher won 5 consecutive years (out of 7 victories), or Juan Manuel Fangio and Sebastien Viettel won 4 consecutive years. However, the way the Belgian and Dutch drivers won in the last 2 seasons has raised questions.

Is Verstappen in too good of a form, too excellent, or does it seem like the current F1 world no longer has a worthy opponent to make the journey through the races more exciting?

2020 was the closest we have come to a non-Verstappen winner. Hamilton won that year and, at 35, the Briton was tipped to overtake Schumacher and become the first man to win eight world titles.

In 2021, Hamilton and Verstappen created a fierce rivalry, waiting until the final round of the final race in Abu Dhabi (UAE) to decide the winner. Hamilton was only 8.5 points behind his opponent.

Verstappen won F1 championship for 3 consecutive years. Photo: Formula 1

It was a small gap, but it seemed to be a big shock to Hamilton, leaving him silent for days, open to the possibility of retirement. Finally, ahead of the 2022 season, Hamilton did return, but he was never the same again.

On the contrary, Verstappen flourished at the age of 24, and was in the Red Bull team environment with favorable conditions, with no opponent challenging him.

With Hamilton now just a name to maintain the attraction of F1, Charles Leclerc was expected to take his place to create a challenge for Verstappen. The driver from Monaco brought hope when winning 2 out of 3 races in the first 2022 season, while at the same time, Verstappen finished 19th once, did not finish a race once.

However, since then, Leclerc has declined, winning only one more race in the rest of the season. Verstappen won 14/19 races and successfully defended the championship.

This season, while no rival from other teams can cause Verstappen any trouble, the main race has become an internal affair for Red Bull, with Perez as the pursuer.

Lewis Hamilton, George Russell and the Mercedes team are capable of challenging Verstappen and Red Bull. Photo: Formula 1

Despite being “chasing”, the Mexican driver has only won 2 races. Verstappen won 14 races and Carlos Sainz won 1. And at the end of the race in Qatar last weekend, while Verstappen had 433 points, Perez had only 224.

Verstappen won the championship with 5 more races left in the season in the US (2 races), Mexico, Brazil and UAE. In 2022, he won the championship 4 races early …

After Verstappen’s win, Hamilton’s Mercedes teammate George Russell said: “Red Bull were much better than everyone else from the start, and then Max was clearly on another level. So we can only congratulate him.

We have to look at ourselves, try to make it difficult for them next year, because no one likes to see that dominance.

We wanted to be in the fight and put them under a bit of pressure.”

Perhaps, the fans would like that too, but there will be many questions that Mercedes will have to answer when looking at the results table for the racing team this season, only once Ferrari has come between the victories of Red Bull, a team that has always adapted very quickly to adjustments.

So, we can’t expect too much from Russell’s statement yet…