Ex F1 champion doesn’t think Max Verstappen would continue dominating in 2023

Tanish Chachra | 02/12/2022
Ex F1 champion doesn't think Max Verstappen would continue dominating in 2023

In 2022, Max Verstappen won the championship most impressively. Winning 15 out of the 22 races, the Dutchman made it a record by having the most wins in a season by out beating Sebastian Vettel and Michael Schumacher’s tally of 13 wins in a year.

It seems like Red Bull mastered the new aerodynamic regulations compared to its rivals. Though Ferrari seemed faster than them at a point in the season, soon later, the Milton-Keynes-based team overpowered them.

Moreover, Verstappen’s consistency also played a pivotal role. Hardly, the 2-year-old F1 driver kept a wrong foot across most races during the 2022 season.

Also read: Lewis Hamilton questions other F1 drivers’ commitment to social causes away from track

Max Verstappen won’t dominate 2023 claims Ex-F1 champion

In 2023, Red Bull is expected to dominate the season like this once, considering there aren’t any major changes in the regulations. However, former F1 champion Mika Hakkinen believes Verstappen wouldn’t dominate the 2023 season.

He believes the current regulations are not like 3-4 years before. Under the last few regulations, Mercedes dominated the entire grid for the last few years. This time Hakkinen claims that there could be surprises in the next year’s closet.

I don’t think it’s so straightforward that way he will continue dominating, even [though] he is a great driver. I’m confident we will see some surprises, but who [from]? I don’t know,” said Hakkinen to SkySports.

Mercedes rise? Ferrari downfall?

This year Mercedes started on the wrong foot. Their W13 would easily be their poorest car in the entire turbo-hybrid era. However, late into the season, they found some ground and even got a win while racing in Brazil.

The final few races prove that Mercedes can get back to the top in 2023 and can’t be ruled out of title contention. Meanwhile, Mercedes boss Toto Wolff has revealed that the Silver Arrows won’t abandon the unique sidepod concept. It remains to be seen whether the innovative design works next year.

On the other hand, everything is going wrong for Ferrari. After succumbing to the superiority of Red Bull, the Maranello-based team has sacked their team principal Mattia Binotto.

The team is in a leadership crisis as they can’t find a highly reputed name on their list. The favourite for the spot as of now is Frederic Vasseur. However, along with a team principal, Ferrari also needs a technical director, as Binotto filled that role too. So things are certainly not right at Ferrari.

Also read: Daniel Ricciardo opens up on Oscar Piastri taking his $15 Million seat at McLaren

Post Edited By: Tanish Chachra
Max Verstappen Mika Hakkinen Red Bull

About the author

Tanish Chachra

Tanish Chachra is the Motorsport editor at The SportsRush. He saw his first race when F1 visited India in 2011, and since then, his romance with the sport has been seasonal until he took up this role in 2020. Reigniting F1's coverage on this site, Tanish has fallen in love with the sport all over again. He loves Kimi Raikkonen and sees a future world champion in Oscar Piastri. Away from us, he loves to snuggle inside his books.

Don’t miss these