The Red Bull team has been a lot in the news lately, be it due to Max Verstappen and the RB19’s dominance, or second driver Sergio Perez’s performance this season. There are a lot of rumours and theories surrounding Red Bull’s second seat. And rightly so, as any driver on and off the grid would give anything to be driving for a top team like Red Bull. Sergio, even though his performance has improved in the last couple of races, isn’t something that can be compared to his teammate, who has utterly dominated the season so far.
As Max Verstappen overtook Sergio Perez on the track at Spa, failing once more in their duel, Helmut Marko, Red Bull’s racing advisor, asserts that only two drivers on the current grid are capable of defeating Verstappen.
Helmut Marko reveals Max Verstappen’s lack of challengers
Verstappen again proved unstoppable even on the Belgian Grand Prix weekend, securing pole position in both Friday’s and Saturday’s sprint qualifying sessions. And the Dutchman went on to pass McLaren driver Oscar Piastri to win the Sprint race, winning the main event too on Sunday despite starting sixth on the grid due to a gearbox penalty.
According to Helmut Marko, the only two drivers who can beat Verstappen are Lewis Hamilton and Fernando Alonso. However, he went on to say that they both can’t compete with the skill displayed by the Red Bull prodigy and can only beat him if they are given a better-performing car than Red Bull’s RB 19. As the above conditions don’t seem possible at this point in time, Verstappen’s presence on the grid is unstoppable, as his skill and pace have no direct competition.
Helmut when asked about who could beat Verstappen in an interview with DAZN. He had this to say:
“I would perhaps say Alonso or Hamilton,” “but in the same car it would be very difficult.”
He further added that even Sergio Perez in the same car can’t compete with Verstappen. “Second place behind Max is like a victory.”
Red Bull, Verstappen on course for a season’s whitewash
Red Bull is on track for a 22-0 season whitewash with 10 wins already under their belt this year, giving them a total of 12.
This season, Red Bull and their star driver Max Verstappen have dominated the sport entirely. Experts even suggest that they haven’t seen this level of dominance in sport by a team and a single driver ever, nor have Mercedes in 2014–2020 or McLaren in Senna’s days done what Red Bull is doing this year. The only exception was Red Bull themselves, with Sebastian Vettel from 2010–2013.
But Helmut Marko has been caught downplaying the dominance by saying in the same interview that “Realistically I have to say no, but we already have 12 victories and at the beginning we said we could win 12 so, who knows?”.
What are your views on Red Bull dominating the sport after the summer break? Let’s know your thoughts and views on this and on Lewis or Fernando beating Max in the comment section down below.
