Dutch Columnist Claims Max Verstappen Is Only 14% Responsible for His Success and Isn’t Entirely Worthy of ‘Sportsman of the Year’

Sabyasachi Biswas | 12/10/2023
Dutch Columnist Claims Max Verstappen Is Only 14% Responsible for His Success and Isn’t Entirely Worthy of ‘Sportsman of the Year’

Max Verstappen is easily the most dominant F1 driver in recent times. With 39 wins already in the last three seasons, the Red Bull driver has defined dominance in a new way. However, according to a renowned Dutch columnist, Bert Wagendorp, as per Dutch GP33, Verstappen is only 14% responsible for his wins and isn’t worthy to win the Sportsman of the Year award.

Admittedly, the Dutchman got great help from Adrian Newey and Co. as they gave the three-time world champion cars that were the best in the grid. While the RB-16B was at par with the Mercedes W12 in 2021, there was no comparison on how dominant the RB-18 was or the RB-19 is currently.

Therefore, Verstappen indeed got huge impetus with the mighty Red Bull challengers. Furthermore, the Dutchman himself does not fancy any award such as Sportsman of the Year like other athletes to add to his glory, thinks the Dutch columnist.

Verstappen isn’t responsible for his dominance, believes Bert Wagendorp

Wagendorp, a renowned Dutch writer, has recently pointed out some of the points which doesn’t make Verstappen a candidate for the Sportsman of the Year award. He also talked about how the Dutch driver got the help of his car, his team, his Engine, and other aerodynamic parts of the car. Following this, he mentioned how much Verstappen is responsible for the win.

Mentioning this, he wrote in his column at De Volkskrant as per Dutch GP 33, “That (the 14%) is an average. We can assume that that average is a lot lower among Verstappen’s competitors.”

Wagendorp also added, “How such junk pilots ever ended up in Formula 1 is a big mystery to me. Presumably something like that with money.” Nevertheless, there has been a long debate regarding the car versus driver in the championship.

Who was dominant, Max Verstappen or the car?

The debate on driver versus car has been going on for long time in F1. While people were defending the likes of Schumacher, Senna, Hamilton, and Vettel, and claiming they were the greatest of the game.

On the other hand, some fans believe that the cars make all the difference while the drivers are more or less the same. Notably, all F1 drivers might be equally talented, but not every normal human being can be an F1 driver.

This is because the drivers have to go through relentless training to be fit and endure the harsh racing conditions week in and week out, as seen in the most recent Qatar GP. All in all, a dominant car might make a driver have outstanding results, but one needs to be equally talented to claim multiple world championships.

Post Edited By: Pritam Priyedarshi
Max Verstappen

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Sabyasachi Biswas

Sabyasachi Biswas is an F1 journalist at The SportsRush. With over one and a half decades of love for the sport and five years of experience in the field, he dreams to be a regular at the paddock when the lights go out. A Red Bull fan and F1 fan in general over the years, he enjoyed watching Felipe Massa, Sebastian Vettel, and Max Verstappen dominate the track. Apart from F1, he's also a big-time Madridista and Federer fanatic. He was a sub-junior level footballer, won inter-district quizzes and debate competitions back in school. A travel freak throughout, he tries different cuisines and learns new cultures whenever he's away from the keyboard.

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