Max Verstappen is currently the most sought-after driver in Formula 1 right now. So much so, that his dominance in the sport is now getting compared with that of Michael Schumacher. Schumacher has won seven F1 titles, whereas Verstappen took three. Despite this, F1 expert Glenn Freeman believes that the Dutchman’s dominance had him remember the initial days of Schumacher’s supremacy.
Speaking about this, Freeman said in The Race podcast, “Over this winter, I’ve come to realization that Max Verstappen’s three years of World Championship so far reminds me of the start of Michael Schumacher’s dominance with Ferrari.”
Notably, both Verstappen and Schumacher had controversies with their first title. The German former driver took Damon Hill, his championship rival back then out of the race with him and ended up winning the title by just one point. On the other hand, the Red Bull driver also had controversy with Michael Masi, the then-race director’s call on the safety car.
However, the supremacy from there on was what Freeman, editor in chief with The Race was talking about. Verstappen took 34 wins in 44 races across two seasons., whereas Schumacher took nine wins each in the 1995 and 2000 F1 seasons out of 16 and 17 races, respectively.
As things stand, Max Verstappen is much more likely to continue his dominance with the help of Adrian Newey. This is simply because the Red Bull challengers are by far the most superior cars on the grid. This, in return, has been a headache for Formula One Management on the commercial side of things, as happened with Schumacher once.
How the governing body might try to curb Verstappen dominance?
The governing bodies such as the FIA and the FOM are not having the best of times because of Max Verstappen’s dominance. Therefore, the bodies might bring in more rules to stop the Dutchman [keeping aside the ride height change], as they once did with Schumacher. Freeman and Co. discussed this in the podcast about how the governing bodies were worried about the non-stop supremacy shown by Schumacher from 2000 to 2004.
Bernie Ecclestone, who was the F1 honcho back in 2002, tied up with Max Mosley, the FIA head to stop Ferrari and spice up things in the sport. “If Michael runs away with things in the first two or three races next year, we have to be prepared to do something to protect the sport,” Mosley said as per Autosport.
Similarly, Ross Brawn, a former F1 team boss also showed a similar concern regarding this in 2021. He said if someone dominates the current regulations, the FIA would take action to put them in limits. However, the grid is less likely to remain as they were in 2023. Teams like Mercedes, McLaren, and Ferrari are getting closer to Red Bull, which might stop the FIA and spice things up automatically.
