According to Dutch pundit Michael Bleekemolen, the potential era of dominance by Max Verstappen might be even more “boring” compared to Lewis Hamilton’s consecutive victories.
Verstappen, who currently holds two titles, still has a long way to go to reach Hamilton’s level of dominance, as the British driver secured four consecutive titles from 2017 to 2020. However, early indications suggest that Verstappen could potentially match Hamilton’s remarkable achievements.
In 2022, Verstappen achieved a record-breaking 15 wins, and in the ongoing 2023 season, he has already secured three victories in just five races. The superiority of the RB19 car implies that Verstappen and his teammate Sergio Perez are the only drivers currently capable of challenging for the top spot, and Verstappen has consistently outperformed his Red Bull partner.
While this news brings great joy to the majority of Dutch fans supporting Verstappen, there is one former driver, Bleekemolen, who holds a different perspective. The former RAM and ATS driver, who had a single start in 1978, acknowledged that while Verstappen’s success is “fantastic” for the Dutch, he is apprehensive that the sport could become “dull” if the current trend persists.
“As a chauvinistic Dutchman, this is of course absolutely fantastic,” Bleekemolen told RacingNews365.com.
“But we must also be careful that this does not become a display even worse than Lewis Hamilton and Michael Schumacher showed. Those other teams and guys really need to start trying their best now.”
“There is, of course, Alonso,” Bleekemolen said. “Unbelievable that he goes so fast. The rest, I don’t know yet who the direct competitors are, aren’t really getting there yet.
“That’s not good for the sport. Good for Max and for Red Bull, but I hope he doesn’t get the same reputation as his predecessors, of, ‘Oh yeah, he always wins anyway…’”
The fans longing for a closely contested championship have one glimmer of hope, which lies in the possibility that team upgrades could narrow the gap with Red Bull. As the season heads into its European leg, the upcoming race in Imola is anticipated to introduce numerous alterations.
However, Bleekemolen lacks confidence in the ability of teams to bridge this gap, even with the implementation of upgrades.
“If the basic [concept] is not good, then you can always try new things, but if we look at Mercedes, for example: maybe there is something wrong with the concept. Maybe the Mercedes is a few centimetres too long or something like that.
“You can’t just change that, so that’s a bigger problem. And if you change something, will you be there? That always remains the question.
“I think that everything will remain about the same in the coming races. They won’t get much closer to the Red Bull and you also have Max: he is already a few tenths faster than anyone else.”
