Max Verstappen dealt a reality check by rival team principal: "There are six, seven drivers on the grid that will be world champions in the Red Bull"

Rival team principal Zak Brown has dealt a reality check as he claimed that Max Verstappen does not win the title in any car but the Red Bull. Verstappen has been on a dominant run since 2022 when he was defending his first title.

2022 was the first season where the ground effect era kicked in, and with Mercedes and Ferrari unable to keep up, Max Verstappen has been on a dominant streak. The streak has been so dominant that he's picked off records one by one in the last two years and holds most of the single-season records.

While this coincides with Red Bull coming to the front and producing one of the best cars in F1 history, Max Verstappen's performances have been peerless as well. Talking on "Beyond the Grid" podcast, Zak Brown felt that both the driver and the car played a huge role in the team's success.

Further accentuating his point, Brown claimed that despite how good Max Verstappen is, he won't win titles in any car other than Red Bull in the last couple of years. He said,

"Well, ultimately, you need both. I don't think without a star driver, you're going to win, so you need both. First, it does start with the car - people ask me all the time: 'is it car or driver?' And it's like: 'well, it's both'. I think the way I characterise it is, I think there are six, seven drivers on the grid that will be world champions in the Red Bull."

He added,

"As great as Max Verstappen is, and he's one of the best ever. I don't think Max wins the world championship today in any other car, other than the Red Bull."

Max Verstappen is making the difference at Red Bull

Brown, however, was adamant that you need to have a winning combination on the driving seats as well, as he highlighted the Red Bull pair. Pointing out where Sergio Perez was finishing in races and how Max tends to dominate him more often than not, Zak focussed on the importance of having a strong driver in the team. He said,

"But then, when you look at the difference, and Sergio Perez is an excellent racing driver, who's shown on his day [he] can run with Max, but look at the difference there."

He added,

"So, I think you need both, because as Formula 1 gets closer, and Max is doing such a special job, but look at what's going on from P1, P2, P3, P4, P5."

It's not a surprise or a claim that is out of place from Zak Brown. The car does play a significant role in any team's success. With McLaren coming to Imola on the back of a win in Miami, it will be interesting to see how it performs on a completely different track.