Max Verstappen Is the F1 Champion. So, What About Next Year?
When you’ve spent the equivalent of seven years being overshadowed by Jenson Button in F1, you’re going to come out of it with as much or as little as you want. That’s not to say we’re looking forward to seeing Sebastian Vettel and the rest of Red Bull Racing continue to be ahead of the pack, simply that they are now the dominant pack in the sport, having held the title for a record six years in succession. The question is, what will next year bring?
The German media have given their verdict on how he’ll look. While there are still some who claim that a return to Button would be “too good to be true” for Vettel, more people are impressed by the progress he’s made this year. In an industry that doesn’t like to talk about driver potential, this is one that’s well worth having a chat about.
The question remains, though – what else is there to say about Mercedes this year? In their defence, they’ve done a pretty good job of holding their own in a year that was dominated by them. Now, though, it’s time for us to look back at where they were this year, compared to where they are now, and make some conclusions of our own.
Before we consider that, though, we need to look at the team’s most impressive achievements this year – and how they compare to where they were this year.
The first thing, though, is that Mercedes haven’t won the championship. They were fifth. Still, they did beat McLaren, which is still an achievement which, in 2018, would’ve been enough to see them lift the championship, even if they didn’t make it to the final six races. In fact, it’s a fairly remarkable achievement for a team that has never won the championship.
When I was at Mercedes, I felt that they were in a comfortable position to make that statement. I was more
