Max Verstappen has a firm grip on the reins in Formula 1. The Red Bull Racing driver has the best car, but also drives very strong personally, because teammate Sergio Pérez does not come close. This F1 season too, no one seems to be able to keep him from winning the world title. Toto Wolff, team boss of Mercedes, sees it all with dismay and suffers from it, as he himself says.
In Formula 1 there is only one name that has consistently been at the top in recent years: Max Verstappen. The Dutch driver has been driving at an unprecedented high level for some time and has been doing so in the best car in the field since 2022. If nothing crazy happens, he will win the world title again this season. The competition, including his own teammate, can only watch. And that hurts, Wolff says. The Mercedes leader himself was in a dominant position with his team for years, but after 2021 things have deteriorated sharply at the German racing team. Things aren’t going well this season either, and a real major rule change won’t come until 2026. “And I don’t want to suffer any more over the next 18 months,” says Wolff.
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Red Bull and Verstappen “way ahead” according to Wolff
“You can say that we are a bit in no man’s land, because Max and Red Bull are far ahead,” Wolff told the Italian newspaper. Formu1a.uno. “It is not satisfactory for the teams that are fighting for the other positions. If I had to look at it purely from a sporting point of view, only first place counts, not second. But that is the reality we are facing at the moment have and we try to make the best of it. We try to beat our direct competitors, while at the same time recognizing that someone [Red Bull en Verstappen, red.] just does better. If we can achieve our ambition of winning races this year, I don’t want to give up, especially next year.”
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Wolff does not want to “suffer” under Verstappen until 2026
The next major regulation change in Formula 1 will not take place until 2026. And that means that Wolff and Mercedes will have to watch Red Bull and Verstappen call the shots for another 18 months. “There’s a big reset coming in 2026, and that certainly offers the most realistic chance for another team to beat Red Bull, but there’s still a season and three quarters to go. And before that happens, I don’t want any more suffer for the next 18 months,” sighs the Austrian team boss of Mercedes.
Verstappen “incredible” and RB20 “spectacular”
Nevertheless, Wolff is impressed by what Verstappen shows. “No one will [de wereldtitel, red.] could decrease this year. It drives incredibly and the car is spectacular. You can see it in the way he handles his tires,” Wolff praises the Dutch driver.
