Max Verstappen has had a dominating start to the 2023 season as he has won all races barring two. Following his victory at the Dutch GP this past weekend, he equaled Sebastian Vettel’s record of winning nine consecutive races. Since the Dutchman is on such a historic run, many fans have begun to consider the sport as ‘boring‘. Amidst such claims, Jos Verstappen, the father of the two-time world champion, has hit back at fans in a recent interview with the De Telegraaf.
The 51-year-old believes that fans should credit his son for arguably having one of the most historic periods of dominance in the sport. With nine consecutive wins already to his name, Verstappen is just one victory away from holding the record of most wins in a row all to himself.
I feel extremely proud to win my home race again, in front of all of you, this makes this day and the victory even more special. 🙌
Thank you so much to everyone for coming to the track and sticking around through the bad weather to celebrate this win with us 🇳🇱👏#DutchGP pic.twitter.com/uYGFmLmMrF
— Max Verstappen (@Max33Verstappen) August 27, 2023
Moreover, that is not it. The 25-year-old is also on course to beat his own record of winning the most number of races in a season. The Red Bull driver has already won 11 races this season and just needs five more victories to beat his own record. Since fans seemingly fail to understand the same, Jos has hit back at them.
Jos Verstappen slams critics for calling his son’s domination boring
In his interview with De Telegraaf, Jos Verstappen began his remarks by praising his son for navigating the difficult conditions perfectly. Since the weather was unpredictable and brought about several challenges, the 51-year-old believes that his son drove a great race.
He was then asked to comment upon fans referring to his son’s domination as ‘boring,’ to which he replied, “Boring? Then you don’t understand it. Every race, Max has to perform at the top of his game and all the details have to be right. Otherwise you don’t set such a victory lap“.
Even though Verstappen is currently on a historic run and is showing no signs of slowing down anytime soon, he will face a unique set of challenges moving ahead. Since the European races are coming to an end, rival teams will look to challenge Red Bull’s unprecedented domination.
Fernando Alonso will hope to end Max Verstappen’s domination
The Italian Grand Prix later this weekend is the final European race on the 2023 calendar. After this race, F1 will visit some tricky venues such as Singapore and Japan.
These venues will pose a greater threat to Max Verstappen’s domination as rival teams are continuing to close the gap to Red Bull. Following the Dutch GP this past weekend, Fernando Alonso claimed that he was even faster than the Red Bull driver at one point.
It is this reason why the Spaniard believes that he and Aston Martin will win a race soon. While speaking to his race engineer (as quoted by Sky Sports) following his second-place finish at Zandvoort, he said, “I think this one is the best one yet but we will win one race soon. We are getting closer“.
Another driver who will hope to challenge the Dutchman is Lando Norris. He has had a few brilliant races recently as he finished on the podium twice in the last four Grand Prix.
Following his recent races, the McLaren driver revealed in an interview with F1 TV how he and his team are getting closer to challenging Verstappen’s domination. It is for this reason that he believes that the 25-year-old is not unbeatable.
