By Joe Murphy
Everyone has given it a go over the last few years. Lewis Hamilton in 2021. Charles Leclerc and Sergio Perez gave their tame best efforts in 2022 and this year, Oscar Piastri and Fernando Alonso have had their battles with the Dutchman, but to no avail. What is becoming clear is that there is only one man who can stop the Dutchman from achieving huge success and records in the sport of Formula 1; Himself.
His confidence over the course of this season is fully justified. He has won 10 races out of 12 and has achieved a podium in the other 2. Not only has he won races in fact, he has won them comfortably.
The Belgian Grand Prix is just the most recent example of what I mean. He started 6th and won to nobody’s surprise. He had done it from 14th the year prior. And he won by a gap greater than a pit stop.
So what is the problem? Well, at times Max has found himself at odds with his team. He goes against strategy and this complacency will come back to bite him at one point. Spa highlighted this more than ever before. Some frosty comments on Saturday were glossed over by Red Bull as competitive chat, but Max failing to adhere to instructions on the Sunday surely won’t go unnoticed. Whilst he was meant to be saving his tyres, he was setting record laps. Had he experienced a puncture, it would have been entirely the fault of the driver.
The problem is that Max’s talents currently make him untouchable. He has the safest seat in the sport along with Lance Stroll and the Red Bull project is very much a case of Verstappen + partner.
With a third successive title practically in the bag the only one who seems to be likely to put an end to his dominance is himself. We could leave the sport, and has frequently hinted at doing so over recent seasons.
His cockiness is fully justified and he rightly seems unstoppable. However, with such a gap building, his complacency could be his downfall. Moreover, the greater the domination at present, the greater the hunger from other teams to hunt him down and topple him.
It doesn’t look like happening currently, but it will at some point.
WHEEL2WHEEL REPORTS 
I agree with you 💯%
I know as a driver you see things differently at times but your engineer has the whole picture.
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