Wonderful performance max verstappen
F1 boss urges teams to improve and close gap after Max Verstappen and Red Bull dominance
Formula 1’s chief executive has urged teams to improve in order to ensure their drivers can be more competitive and narrow the gap to Max Verstappen and Red Bull after a dominant 2023 season.
Verstappen secured a record 17th win of the 2023 campaign at the Brazilian Grand Prix and has long since sewn up a third consecutive world title.
The Dutchman has dominated the sport since pipping Lewis Hamilton to the 2021 Drivers’ Championship.
While dominance by a single driver or team is far from new, with Hamilton himself securing six titles in seven years between 2014 and 2020, the scale of Verstappen’s superiority has been striking.
And while stressing that F1 could not be seen to be targeting the 26-year-old, Stefano Domenicali has discussed the prospect of teams producing a more competitive car in 2024.
“I think if you look back at the dominance of a driver or a team, it’s always been a part of F1,” Domenicali said to Channel 4.
“We need to consider one thing that for sure Max Verstappen has done and is doing an incredible job. We need to recognise that.
“But if you see [the gaps in qualifying], it’s just incredible. If you look at the numbers of overtaking we are having the last two seasons, we are at the top of the scale.
“We cannot be seen as a sport that is trying to do something against someone, that would be wrong.
“On the other hand, the nature of Formula 1 is to make sure that next year the teams can give to the other drivers – that are very, very strong – the possibility to compete in that field.”
Verstappen leads the Drivers’ Championship standings by a remarkable 266 points from teammate Sergio Perez.