Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff has given his view that Max Verstappen’s current dominance is bad for Formula 1, as it’s making the results too predictable.
The reigning World Champion claimed his ninth win in a row last weekend at the Dutch Grand Prix, to match Sebastian Vettel’s 2013 record for most consecutive wins.
Verstappen can now eclipse the four-time World Champion’s record this weekend, at the Italian Grand Prix.
Most expect Verstappen to claim his 10th consecutive victory and his 12th overall for 2023 at Monza, given his superiority.
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It doesn’t matter what’s thrown at the Dutchman currently, with him overcoming any challenge.
Come rain or shine, it’s still Verstappen on top.
In many ways, it can’t necessarily be said that Red Bull are dominant, despite the fact that they’ve won the last 14 races – a new record.
12 of those 14 wins have come thanks to Verstappen, with Sergio Perez not being consistently towards the top.
In fact, if Verstappen’s results weren’t included, then five teams would’ve won a race this season.
Wolff isn’t a fan of the Dutchman’s dominance and believes Mercedes need to “find solutions” to catch the 25-year-old, instead of being “seven-tenths” behind.
“I think clear variability and unpredictability is what makes the sport exciting,” Wolff said.
“And you want to look at the telly on Sunday and hope for a fight and that’s not the case at the moment.
“But it’s not happening because one team with one driver is just doing a much better job than anybody else.
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“And so we need to acknowledge that it’s up to us to find solutions that leapfrog us to a certain degree because seven-tenths is not something you find from one race to the other.”
Whilst Mercedes’ deficit to Red Bull is sizeable, Wolff takes inspiration from the fact that McLaren and Aston Martin have both made huge progress this season, through one large upgrades package.
“We’ve seen it with McLaren that one update basically changed their performance levels considerably,” Wolff added.
“And the same with Aston Martin over the winter. So it’s possible and it’s up to us to get up there.”