"Put Max in a s***box or a Red Bull car, he’d probably still beat the rest" - Former Mercedes CEO Nick Fry's bold claim about Max Verstappen

Former Mercedes CEO Nick Fry has come out with a bold claim that Max Verstappen would still win races in a "S***box" because he is that much better than everyone else. The Red Bull driver has been on a dream run since the 2021 F1 season and that was the first time in his career that Verstappen had a car with which he could battle for the title.

In the last race of the season, he ended up getting the better of Lewis Hamilton and clinching the title. From the 2022 F1 season onwards, things have been a lot smoother. Max Verstappen was able to comfortably clinch the title after overcoming early resistance from Charles Leclerc and Ferrari.

The 2023 F1 season saw a far more comprehensive dominance from the driver as he won 19 of the 22 races that season and was just in a different league to everyone else.

Speaking of Max Verstappen, former Mercedes CEO Nick Fry has come with a glowing endorsement. Repeating a quote he had mentioned earlier in 2023, Fry reiterated that the Red Bull driver could win even in a bad car. He told OLBG:

“I heard someone say once ‘If you can drive, you can drive anything’. I don’t think it would matter if you put Max in a s***box or a Red Bull car, he’d probably still beat the rest of them. He’s very adaptable. I don’t think it would change much, sadly."

Fry added:

“If you started Max at the back of the grid, he’d still do better than most, but perhaps he wouldn’t win. A lot of it is due to the car. Red Bull has the best driver and the best car.”

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"Max Verstappen is showing that he is the best driver at the moment" - Nick Fry

Nick Fry said that the idea of a one-off race where every driver had the same car was something that could be entertained by the sport since the product is suffering from single-team dominance.

Fry felt that even if that happened, he expected Max Verstappen to come out on top. He was quoted as saying by OLBG:

"Johnny Herbert’s idea of having a one-off race where everybody drives the same car would be a good one if it was practical! Those kinds of ideas have been toyed with in the past, but the issues lie in the sponsorships, which are so closely tied to drivers and cars. That’s where it gets difficult."

He added:

“Unfortunately, I would have to say that Verstappen is showing that he is the best driver at the moment, and I don’t think it would matter much. It could even play into his hands, because he’s shown he’s good enough to be very adaptable and would probably drive any of the cars better than his competitors.”

Verstappen is on a run of three consecutive title wins, and if he does emulate the result again in 2024, he will be a 4-time world champion, level with the likes of Sebastian Vettel and Alain Prost.