“Absolute Nonsense”: Max Verstappen’s Initial Happiness Cut After Brutal Assessment

With the rules remaining unchanged during the ensuing few seasons, many F1 analysts and experts predicted that Max Verstappen would once again rule the F1 circuits after season 2022. And following the preseason testing, it appeared that the prediction came to pass, as Milton Keynes is still the squad to beat in the next season. Nevertheless, Max Verstappen fans should not get excited because, following their initial joy, an ex-F1 driver gave a harsh evaluation of the entire situation.

Sergio Perez set the fastest time during the three days of testing, despite the fact that the team didn’t even utilise the softest tyres. Following the testing days, Red Bull’s performance has become a serious threat to other teams, while double Max Verstappen, champion, is considered the favourite to win the World Championship straight for a third time. However turning all the speculations around Red Bull’s dominance, former Dutch Formula One driver Jan Lammers claims that Red Bull is still hiding something under their blanket, and it is not as simple as it seems for Verstappen and company to lift the third driver’s title in a row.

In his column for De Telegraaf, Lammers wrote, “After the Formula 1 test days in Bahrain, I already hear people saying that it could be a very boring season. I think that is absolute nonsense. Of course Red Bull is looking fantastic at the moment and they too probably didn’t show everything last weekend. But it sometimes seems now that it is just a formality for Max Verstappen to win his third world title.”

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Max Verstappen’s brilliant driving earned him 15 of Red Bull’s 17 triumphs last year as the team dominated the field, winning 17 of the 22 races they competed in. However, the Dutchman claims that it wasn’t the complete dominant year, besides he accepts that the upcoming season will bring the grid much closer.

Max Verstappen claims that the upcoming season will have a much closer fight

Due to the team’s lack of pace at the start of the season, the Championship initially appeared far away. But thanks to Verstappen’s brilliance and the team’s competent leadership, the Dutchman won his second world championship while setting numerous records in the process. And when the Dutchman was questioned about his domination in the previous season and asked if he would like to see a tighter title fight in the following year, the 25-year-old said that it wasn’t as easy as it seemed.

While talking to planet f1.com he said, “if you look at how tough some races were to win, I don’t think you can speak of like total dominance, right? So, a lot of teams made mistakes, and that, of course, with us not making that many mistakes and being quite consistent over the whole year, we’ve benefitted from that. And I think that’s, of course, a great quality of the team but, for sure, now in the second year of the regulations, I think people will understand the cars better. So for sure, it will be a lot closer. I’m sure of it.”

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Although Team Red Bull and Max Verstappen may have been faster during preseason testing, we should also pay close attention to how Mercedes and Ferrari are progressing. Having said that do you think season 2023 will see the juggernaut of Max Verstappen or will the F1 get a new world champion?