The 2023 season has been a story of utter dominance by Red Bull. The Milton Keynes-based outfit has not lost a race all season and looks set to win the remainder of the races with ease. However, the Twitter handle ‘Verstappen News’ quotes Jacques Villeneuve (from an interview with Formula Passion) about the performances not being down to the brilliance of Red Bull, but of Max Verstappen, who he believes is a class apart from one of the closest grids of all time.
The dominion of Max Verstappen has been subject to mixed reception by the fans. While many are enjoying the Dutchman’s unbeaten run, most fans of the sport have grown bored of the lack of excitement at the front of the grid in any race. However, Villeneuve doesn’t concern himself with the monotony and claims the performances to be a generational feat.
Jacques Villeneuve heaps praises on Max Verstappen
Speaking about Verstappen’s accomplishments, Villeneuve said he is the best on the grid. The Canadian believes there is no sense in claiming the Dutchman’s dominance is harmful to the sport, and that people should be proud of what he has been doing. He also added that nobody complained when Hamilton and Mercedes were winning, but they have been doing so with the 25-year-old, who is winning against one of the closest grids of all time.
“It’s not the domination of Red Bull, but it’s the domination of Max. F1 has never been so close, sometimes from 1st to 20th there is only 1s or 1.2s, and that has never happened in history. And people are complaining.”
With the record sealed, Verstappen now stands wary of his streak being broken in the very next race of the season. Having broken the Monza curse, most would assume the two-time defending world champion will be high on morale, but as F1 heads to Asia, he’ll look to exercise heavy caution once racing begins.
Singapore GP might be tricky for the Red Bull drivers
Even though people expect them to go unbeaten this season, the Red Bull drivers have expressed doubts over a win in Singapore. Addressing his and Red Bull’s Singapore GP chances, the Dutchman expressed his skepticism at an easy win as he claimed it won’t be the strongest weekend for them and it’ll be more difficult for them to win in Singapore as compared to the races they have already won.
Max Verstappen ahead of Singapore:
“It’ll be a little bit more difficult for us.
But, we’ll see. We’ll do our best. And of course, we’ll try to go in there and try to win it again.
But it’s not going to be the strongest weekend for us.”#SingaporeGP— Verstappen News (@verstappenews) September 5, 2023
Sergio Perez also supported his teammate’s statements about the upcoming GP being a race “where basically anything can happen.” The Guadalajara-born driver further added if they don’t qualify in the front row for the main race, the Red Bull drivers might not have a shot at victory.
Red Bull’s chief advisor, Helmut Marko, is also of the belief that Singapore GP will be their team’s biggest test of the season. He recently claimed that if his team can win the race in Singapore, there will be no stopping them from going unbeaten this season. Marko backs Verstappen to register his first-ever Singapore GP and keep his and Red Bull’s streak alive.
