Max Verstappen’s utter domination of Formula 1 this year was not “boring”, according to one well respected engineer.
Red Bull won 21 out of the 22 grands prix in 2023, with triple world champion Max Verstappen securing 19 of those victories for himself.
And Jake Dennis, a key F1 simulator driver for Red Bull, has bad news for those expecting a closer battle in 2024.
“I can confirm that the RB20 is going well in the simulator,” he told DAZN. “The car should be quite good.
“We should be fine for next year,” Dennis smiled.
And while that may not sound like good news for fans of close competition in Formula 1, Joan Villadelprat has a different perspective.
“The opinion of the average fan is that the season has been boring because the same guy always won,” said the respected former engineer and manager, who worked for Ferrari, McLaren and other F1 teams.
“But for the people who are involved in this world, or those of us who have worked for many decades in F1, what we should do is congratulate Red Bull for the extraordinary work they have done and Max for his excellent driving.
“This should encourage other teams to work harder and better, but complaining that the same team always wins makes no sense. If he has done it, it is because he deserved it,” Villadelprat told Spain’s AS sports newspaper.
He said the best way to measure just how good Verstappen was in 2023 is to directly compare his performance to that of Sergio Perez – the occupant of the sister Red Bull.
“It was total superiority,” said the Spaniard. “Perez had some good moments, but he also made quite a few mistakes.
“Obviously the development of the car focused on Verstappen and, as both have different driving styles, that favoured Max. But his performance was outstanding.”
In fact, Villadelprat thinks only Michael Schumacher – who he worked with in F1 as operations director for Benetton – can be compared to Verstappen.
“Schumacher was always my great reference as a champion as I worked hand in hand with him for quite some time. And Max is very close to Michael,” he said.
Why? “Because of his ambition, because of his desire to destroy and leave nothing to the others. They are quite similar in that,” said the 68-year-old.
“Senna was pure natural talent, but physically he was not as well prepared and he often got out of the car exhausted. In my opinion, Max is the closest thing I have seen to Schumacher in terms of mentality and quality.
“They both had an unlimited hunger to win.”
As for Jake Dennis’ prediction of another good season for Red Bull next year, Villadelprat thinks Verstappen’s rivals will get closer in 2024.
“The regulations are set and the teams that are far away will get closer. We have already seen Williams and McLaren take some giant steps, Mercedes stood up to Red Bull on several occasions and Ferrari won a race,” he said.
“Everyone is going to get closer because the margin of learning and improvement is greater in those who are behind and they will also get more time in the wind tunnel and other areas of development.”
As for Ferrari, however, Villadelprat has an idea why his old crew at Maranello is struggling so much to put together a world championship challenge.
“First of all it’s because they have no patience,” he said. “When things don’t work, the tendency is to panic and change everything quickly. They don’t give time for projects to settle. They have a tendency to rebuild every two years.
“I was a fan of Mattia Binotto and it was a mistake to change him for (Frederic) Vasseur because Binotto had managed to create stability and they were growing. But by changing the boss again and several of his trusted men, who also left, they had to start over.”
