Quote:
Originally Posted by Marcoose
But if Pérez finished 2nd in every race 20 seconds behind Verstappen, you’d be happy as a lark.
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The consequence of the current Perez situation: reluctance at RBR to offer long term contracts to the successor of Perez for 2025 (or 2024 mid-season should the performance of Perez remain subpar during the first months of the 2024 season).
Any guess how the powers that be at Mercedes and their main sponsors would have reacted if Bottas had performed the way Perez did this Summer and Autumn ? Bottas got consecutive 1-year contracts to ensure that he'd perform in a way deemed satisfactory for Mercedes. Bottas was under permanent stress from being kept in check. And the guy did a great job in handling that pressure + proved to be very helpful for Hamilton and the Mercedes team.
Verstappen, on the other hand, is left to his own devices this season: how much significant help did he get from Perez this season during a race (wingman antics: during the Austria 2023 race Perez even required Verstappen to 'mow' some wet grass off-track) ? Anyways, judging by his consistent excellent race results, Verstappen operates on a different level - even with his team mate of arguably only little help (he also gathers data to be processed by race engineers), he still keeps dominating the whole field.
Say what you want about Verstappen, but way too often this year, he's out there fighting on his own at the front with his team mate nowhere around. A one-man band against the rest. 16 out of 19 races won. That's over 84%.
Throwback to 2006-2007-2008-2009: Verstappen (°1997) competed in karting championships in Belgium and The Netherlands. The kid annihilated the competition by winning 124 out of 130 races. That's over 95%. And do know that, except for 2006, he was competing in multiple karting championships at the same time (Belgian Championship, Dutch Championship and Benelux Karting Series). He won all 9 championships he competed in.
The kid was a war machine on karting tracks. No surprise that, with a properly performing car, he became so dominant in F1. And he's only 26.
Sure, there will be others in the future challenging him for a WDC title (keep an eye on Piastri for example), but he will remain a force to be reckoned with for the next couple of years. Wouldn't be surprised if he retires from F1 in his early 30s to go compete in other racing categories.
Let's see whether the 2026 regs will spice things, mix up the field, complicate achieving race wins for Verstappen.