Sebastian Vettel Compares Lewis Hamilton, Michael Schumacher And His Own Domination To Defend Max Verstappen Against ‘Boring F1’ Criticisms

There have been ample talks about Max Verstappen making F1 boring because of his sheer dominance in 2023. Amidst these complaints, the Red Bull star has Sebastian Vettel alongside him as a much-needed impetus. Vettel, who himself dominated the sport in the 2010s during the pre-hybrid era, jumped in to defend Verstappen, by citing Lewis Hamilton and Michael Schumacher as examples.

Verstappen and Red Bull have been nothing short of incredible this season. With his recent win in Silverstone, the 25-year-old raked in his sixth consecutive win. It was also his eighth victory in 10 races. Moreover, Verstappen now has a huge 99-point lead over second-placed Sergio Perez in the standings.

As for his team, Red Bull picked up 20 wins in the last 21 races, if we are to take last season into account. While there is no doubt about the amount of talent Verstappen possesses, he isn’t the only entity responsible for this domination. The regulation changes of 2022, which were meant to bring teams closer, has worked wonders on Red Bull. No team benefited from it as much as they did.

Furthermore, this isn’t the first time regulation changes have benefited a particular team more than others. The onset of the turbo-hybrid era in 2014 saw Mercedes annihilate all their opponents for the next seven seasons. To go even further back in time, between 2000 and 2004, Ferrari and Michael Schumacher were unstoppable.

Sebastian Vettel reluctant to blame Verstappen for boring allegations

Vettel has praised Verstappen for his work as of late. Even though it might seem easy and of course, boring from outside, the Red Bull star has performed brilliantly and made no mistakes to build such a mammoth lead at the top.

Following this, Vettel said that being on top attracts more and more criticism, as F1 is a sport where the knives are sharper when someone is at the top.

11 wins in a row for the team, what an amazing achievement @redbullracing 🚀 This is an extraordinary job by everyone 👏 #KeepPushing

Thank you Silverstone 🇬🇧 #BritishGP pic.twitter.com/JvY7dR54ij

— Max Verstappen (@Max33Verstappen) July 9, 2023

According to Crash.net, Vettel said, “There is much more at play than just lap times. I’m sure Lewis Hamilton never had it easy during his dominant years. Just as, for example, Michael Schumacher, Mika Hakkinen, and myself never had it easy.”

Following this, the former Red Bull driver went on to applaud the Milton-Keynes-based team’s incredible performance throughout this season. Despite having reliability issues at the start of this  new era, their hard work and consistency has paid off strongly.

Red Bull can break records this season, believes Vettel

So far this season, Red Bull has been unstoppable, winning all 10 races. They are just one win away from breaking the record for most consecutive wins held by a team. Things have never been smoother at the Austrian outfit.

In a sport that with cutthroat competition like F1, Red Bull has overcome all the deficits, to stay on top for a sustained period of time, thanks to Chief Technical Officer Adrian Newey. And this, of course, is not an easy task to achieve. Sebastian Vettel, for this, did not forget to credit his team for the surreal perfection, consistency, and quality.

Furthermore, the ex-Ferrari driver is also of the opinion that the Milton-Keynes-based team might go on to be the first team in the history of Formula 1 to stay unbeaten in a season.