Having enjoyed one of the most dominant seasons ever by an F1 driver, Max Verstappen found himself at the helm of a controversy after a barrage of allegations came his way. Many people and pundits claimed that Red Bull was playing favorites and designed their car to only suit the needs of their Dutch driver. After months of speculation, Verstappen has finally come forth to address the same, as quoted in a report by Auto Motor Sport.
“I vote for the car the way I like it. And the other driver as it suits him. The engineers develop the car in such a way that it becomes faster. And not as I would like it to be.”
It all started with the Monaco Grand Prix, where Verstappen won the race, 2 laps ahead of his teammate, Sergio Perez. The Dutchman immediately made it a habit to significantly outperform Perez despite the two driving the same car. A struggling Perez saw himself finishing between 10 to 30 seconds behind his teammate, allowing people to speculate about the car not suiting his driving style and favoring that of his world-champion teammate. “Adapt to what you get from the team.”
One of the most lopsided teammate battles in 2023 was Max Verstappen’s performance in Qatar compared to Sergio Perez.
• 1.191s faster on avg race pace
• faster on 39/43 eligible laps
• over a second faster on 24/43 eligible laps
• finished 80.1 seconds aheadGood grief. pic.twitter.com/PLQC4b0JFQ
— Daniel Valente ️ (@F1GuyDan) January 2, 2024
Per Verstappen, adapting to the way the car behaves is key for any driver to get the best results. While people claim that the engineers mold the car in a way that favors the driver, the three-time reigning world champion claimed it is a driver’s responsibility to adapt to the way their cars behave on each track.
Max Verstappen doesn’t concern himself with the opinions of others
Presently, there are two schools of thought around the prowess of Verstappen and the RB19. The first states that Perez‘s performances are the true indicator of RB19’s capabilities, with Verstappen’s driving abilities making all the difference. The other claims Verstappen only won so much because of a vastly superior car.
In both cases, Perez’s performances come under the microscope, as he either failed to match his teammate’s level of skill or simply could not get the best out of the most dominant car on the grid.
Meanwhile, Verstappen once again did not bother himself with the comparisons and focused instead on doing his best to extract as much as he could from the car. The 26-year-old further added he didn’t even want to draw comparisons between the RB19 and the older Red Bull cars. His focus remains solely on committing to continuous improvement and fetching optimal results for his team.
