Max Verstappen’s former performance engineer Blake Hinsey believes he could get bored of being so dominant in Formula 1, whilst a move to the struggling Mercedes could “reignite” his motivation.
Verstappen is in a complete league of his own currently, with the Dutchman being a staggering 125 points clear in the Drivers’ Championship ahead of this weekend’s Dutch Grand Prix.
Should the reigning World Champion’s current dominance continue, then he’ll likely seal a third consecutive title next month, potentially in Singapore or Japan depending on results elsewhere.
10 of the 12 completed races in 2023 have been won by the Dutchman, who is currently on an eight-race winning streak.
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A win at home on Sunday would see him match Sebastian Vettel’s record for nine consecutive wins, a record most expect the 45-time race winner to eclipse.
The 25-year-old is so dominant, that he’s currently targeting pole position, victory and the fastest lap every Grand Prix, with him more often than not winning his races by at least 20 seconds.
Whilst his form is mesmeric, Hinsey questions how long this will motivate him for, given how often it’s happening.
“What else does Max need to strive for apart from absolute perfection, 10 out of 10 every weekend,” Hinsley told the Sky Sports F1 podcast.
“Max’s goal now is to pole, race wins, fastest lap, lead as many laps as possible, when that becomes very likely to happen what do you have to do (to keep motivation).”
After questioning how long being dominant will motivate Verstappen, Hinsey raised a valuable point.
He questioned what would motivate Verstappen more, being dominant every week with Red Bull, or racing for a struggling Mercedes and help them rebuild to their glory days.
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The latter is what Lewis Hamilton is trying to do, but he won’t be around for as long as Verstappen.
“Let’s say you are driving a Mercedes right now, the car is not great and it is a way off winning the championship right now. Which one of those has more hooks (for Max) to keep you invested,” Hinsley added.
“Maybe a couple of years in a slower car and lots of challenges would reignite some that.”