Ever since the start of the hybrid engine era, Mercedes ruled F1 with Lewis Hamilton spearheading the team. The Silver Arrows’ dominance continued unchallenged, with their drivers being each other’s main competition. However, that changed with the advent of new regulations last year curated around the ground-effect concept. It once again saw Red Bull revive its fate, this time with Max Verstappen in front. The status quo changed, bringing in new excitement with it, according to Red Bull’s Helmut Marko.

F1 has never seen the kind of dominance that Verstappen put up on display last year. Red Bull accumulated 17 wins in total, out of which the Dutchman scored 15. That was despite the fact that the team struggled with the car’s weight and reliability issues at the start of the season. Winning races from as far back as P14 and P10, Max pumped in the excitement in a season that could have well turned out to be a boring one.

In the docuseries ‘Max Verstappen Anatomy of a Champion’, Marko said, “For sure he wanted to achieve too much in the beginning. But for us, each driver, is their own individual, has his way of living, his own way of thinking.”

“Before Max, Formula 1 was a little bit boring. And the way Max is fighting, made it more exciting… And people like it.”

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The Red Bull adviser is not the only one who feels Verstappen made last year exciting despite there being no competition. The high praise came from unlikely quarters after the conclusion of the year gone by.

When Zak Brown lauded Max Verstappen for rescuing what could have been a boring season

After DNFing in the season opener and Australia last season, Verstappen did not look back. The car’s weight came down and reliability issues were dealt with. That, perhaps, is all he needed to show what he was capable of. Most of the time, his driving looked effortless, making one wonder if he was pushing as hard as the timing sheet reflected. That quality, according to McLaren’s CEO, is what rescued the season.

Autosport quoted Zak as saying, “Given the dominance of Max, it doesn’t feel like it’s been a boring season, even if the results on paper, you would think it would be boring. But I think all the races have been very exciting.”

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Red Bull will try to make sure that this good run does not come to an abrupt end with the next change in regulations that will come into force in the 2026 season. Mercedes, Ferrari, and Aston Martin will look to break that run earlier.