“Max Verstappen puts his Haas on Pole position and pips his former team, Red Bull!” Didn’t that feel like an odd statement to read? It sure felt very odd writing it. Let’s ruminate about this situation. Or maybe not because Helmut Marko seems to have run this hypothetical situation in his head. He claims that the Dutchman has the talent to even take the tractor of a Haas to pole position. However, his prophecy turned out to be a rather short-lived one as a former World Champion squashed it with just one word.

It is undeniable that Verstappen is at the very top of his game. His other F1 rivals need rocket ships to match his speed as their cars don’t seem cut out for the job. But it cannot be just the car because the other RB19 too looks sedated as compared to Verstappen’s. So it is guaranteed that it is the ‘Super Max’ magic that is doing wonders. Sure the Haas VF-23 is a quick car in qualifying, but drops like a stone in race trim. Regardless, Marko has concluded that the Dutchman can replicate his success even in the slowest of cars.

“[Max would] put an AlphaTauri or Haas, which is a qualifying car, on Pole,” Marko said in an interview with Motorsport Total. When Autosport posted a photo of this quote on Instagram, Button’s comment took all the limelight. He was in complete disagreement with Marko and just wrote ‘No’. He gave no further explanations to back his answer. That simple ‘No’ not only showed his stance but also somehow put emphasis on it at the same time.

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While Button gave such a strong statement, the man who retired at the same time as him, too agreed with him, but in a rather diplomatic way.

Felipe Massa gives blunt verdict on Max Verstappen’s future performances in F1

Verstappen and dominance are words that can now be interchangeably used in the F1 community. With 10 race wins out of 12 this season, he is set to win both world championships. Even if he raced alone as a constructor, he would win. But Felipe Massa believes that his domination will end once the 2026 regulations dampen the performance of the Red Bull car.

“I think that until 2026, when we will have the change of regulations, Verstappen wins everything,” Massa told Marca. “I think we will have equal regulations and Verstappen is superior, Red Bull is superior. So until 2026, we can expect Verstappen to win all the titles.”

Even after being at the top of the time charts for nearly all the races, Verstappen doesn’t seem to have won over everyone. Can that change if he breaks Sebastian Vettel’s record of 9 consecutive race wins?

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