Max Verstappen Era Greater Than Lewis Hamilton, Sebastian Vettel, and Michael Schumacher Dominance, Says McLaren Driver

Every driver in F1 who’s won 3 or more championships has had their era of dominance. Michael Schumacher in the early 2000s, Sebastian Vettel in the early 2010s, and then Lewis Hamilton in the mid-late 2010s. But still, McLaren’s Formula E driver thinks Max Verstappen’s era of dominance is greater than any of those drivers, who currently have more championships than the Dutchman. But why? 

Max Verstappen’s uncanny dominance in the last couple of years has definitely taken the F1 grid by storm. Ask Sergio Perez, who is no slouch if a driver, but isn’t able to keep up with his teammate despite trying his best. While the Dutchman cruises to race victories without even breaking a sweat. However, we’ve seen dominance like this in the past when Sebastian Vettel used to beat Mark Webber by 30+ seconds, or the 7X champ finishing a postcode ahead of wingman Valtteri Bottas.

Yet there is one key difference when compared to the Dutchman’s win, i.e. there wasn’t always a huge margin. Bottas and Sebastian Vettel did steal multiple wins away from Lewis Hamilton during his championship season and the same was the case with Hamilton’s best friend Vettel, where Mark Webber or Fernando Alonso snatched wins away from the German. But that isn’t the case with Max Verstappen, who decided not to let Checo finish ahead of him after the 2023 Saudi Arabian GP, and has kept the streak since, keeping the retirements aside.

And that is exactly what was discussed by Sam Bird, McLaren’s Formula-e driver on the F1: Chequered Flag podcast. Sam Bird said, “This is another level of dominance that we’re seeing now.” Comparing to the other World Champions dominace, he added “It’s even more than what we saw from Vettel, even more than what we saw from the likes of Schumacher, definitely more than what we saw from Lewis in Mercedes. I think that’s the problem, that every single week it’s the same, half a second every lap. Relentless speed for Max.”

And now, Lando Norris has taken the opportunity to suggest that Max Verstappen’s dominance is frustrating for the fans. 

Lando Norris on Max Verstappen’s dominance: “It is frustrating for people watching”

F1 reached its peak at the 2021 Abu Dhabi GP when Hamilton and Verstappen fought for the title in the final lap after battling for the whole season. But since then the now 3X champ has been winning everything in his sight, not giving a single sniff to any other driver on the grid. From a fan’s perspective, it does get monotonous and boring with Verstappen winning all the races. In fact, the 2024 Australian GP where the Dutchman retired was the most interesting race of the season, or the 2023 Singapore GP, where the Red Bulls struggled. And now, Lando Norris has advised the same.

“It is frustrating for people watching but it has always been like this.”, said Lando Norris after the Chinese GP. “Now, we are seeing more dominance than ever, so it is never going to be the best to watch and the only exciting races have been the ones that Max is not in. If you see the same driver winning every single time without a fight then of course it does start to become boring and that is obvious.”

Who do you think had the greatest era of dominance? Max Verstappen, Lewis Hamilton, Sebastian Vettel, or Michael Schumacher