The Max Verstappen era may well be over, predicts former Red Bull F1 driver

David Coulthard feels Max Verstappen might not dominate in 2023 or beyond as other teams could catch up. The former Red Bull driver predicts the Dutchman’s domination will end just like it did for Lewis Hamilton and Fernando Alonso, both of whom deserve more titles, according to him.

Commenting on Max Verstappen and his domination in the new era of the sport, Coulthard spoke to Formula1 NL saying:

“The Verstappen era may well be over after two titles. Not because he’s not a brilliant driver, but he may not have a title-winning car in the coming seasons. Nobody knows that in advance. Lewis could have been a nine-time instead of a seven-time champion. At the same time, he has often been in a good car, and someone like Alonso has not. Alonso should have had more than two titles. But his choices and the racing gods have put him in the position where he will drive for Aston Martin next year and the chances of him becoming champion are slim, definitely has the skills.”

The Scotsman believes Ferrari will be better than the Red Bulls next year and will improve their car, making it difficult for Max Verstappen to dominate the upcoming seasons. While it is uncertain if the Dutchman will have a similarly competitive car that will dominate the grid, Coulthard feels his domination has to end at some point as it did for his British and Spanish counterparts.

The former McLaren driver felt Hamilton and Alonso could have achieved more than seven and two titles respectively with a dominant car. Coulthard feels the Spanish champion has rarely been in a competitive car and his career choices and luck have played a big factor in his career. While the two-time world champion moves to Aston Martin in 2023 and still aspires to claim his third title, the former Red Bull driver feels there are slim chances of that aspiration transpiring into reality despite Alonso’s competitive skill set.

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Ex-Mercedes executive director glad Max Verstappen won the title in 2021

Former Executive Director of Mercedes, Paddy Lowe was happy to see Max Verstappen clinch victory in the controversial finale in Abu Dhabi in 2021. The British engineer believes that F1 can be unfair and unpredictable, which makes it exciting to follow, and the anticlimactic finale of the 2021 season was a result of the same. The former Mercedes team chief felt the nature of the sport was such that luck played a vital role and it did for the Dutchman in the final race. Empathizing with Michael Masi in the tense situation, Lowe felt sorry for the former race director and the situation that unfolded for him in the aftermath.

Speaking to Planet F1 about Max Verstappen and his maiden title, Lowe said:

“Good to see Max secure a championship without any argument. I was quite happy that he won it last year, actually – which is probably controversial, but Formula 1 is a sport of jeopardy. It always has been. Nothing’s fair in Formula 1. I’ve been on the wrong side of fairness many, many times and then [on] the right side of good luck as well. That’s the nature, that’s the interest, that’s the excitement of the sport, actually. It’s not a sport where everything should go to plan and always the best person by some analysis should win. That’s why we watch and love the sport and there’s never a right answer anyway to anything. I did feel sorry for the race director [Masi] actually, I think he got the wrong end of that really unfairly to me. There was no right or wrong answer there. He did his job, he was the ref.”

Lowe left Mercedes after the 2016 season and returned to his former team Williams, with whom he debuted in 1987. The British engineer quit F1 altogether after the 2019 season, just as Max Verstappen had started to surge up the grid to be recognized as a talent to reckon with.