F1: Verstappen’s 223 laps of historic dominance and Formula 1’s policy of non-intervention

Never has a team won all the World Cup races, but Verstappen and Prez are on the road. This Sunday in Austria, at home, they are once again the favorites. “There are always things that go wrong or you have a breakdown,” says Verstappen

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It could happen. For example, yes Czech Prez makes a mistake in qualifying and, in the race, the rain appears, max verstappen is wrong with the strategy and Fernando Alonso takes the win. It almost happened on the streets of Monaco. It is not impossible for it to be repeated. Also the Red Bull drivers could suffer an engine failure or run into a wall or receive a punch from an opponent or be harmed by a safety car or… All of that could happen. But the logical, the mathematical, the predictable, what Big Data and Artificial Intelligence would say, is that Verstappen and Pérez will dominate all the remaining races this season.

The first third of the Formula 1 World Championship has been a walk for the Austrian team and there are no signs of deterioration, quite the opposite. Verstappen, in fact, has led 223 laps in a row, all disputed from Miami -in Monaco, Barcelona and Montreal- and could reach the all-time record of 304 laps set by Alberto Ascari in the 1950s. This Sunday (3:00 p.m., DAZN) In his home, the Red Bull Ring in Spielberg, where everything is decorated with Red Bull, the fences, the markers, the stands, even the houses of the town or the asphalt of the streets, the Dutchman will once again be a favorite with Prez as alternative.

So why watch the race? There is a rational reason to believe in the surprise, in the emotion, even in the victory number 33 of Alonso’s career. Never in history, never, never, has a team won every event in a season. Neither McLaren in 1988, when he celebrated in 15 of the 16 races with Ayrton senna and Alain Prost. Neither Ferrari in 2002, with 15 of 17 of Michael Schumacher and Rubens Barrichello. Not even Mercedes in 2016 and the 19 victories in 21 races of Nico Rosberg and lewis hamilton.

There is always a bad race for the dominant team. It could arrive this Sunday because the engines have already been competing for three months and soon one will fail. Also because at race time there is a 50% chance of it raining. And even due to the fact that the Austrian Grand Prix will be in a sprint format (short race on Saturday, at 4:30 p.m.) and that creates some confusion.

Formula 1 regulations

“Now it seems that we can win all the races, but it is very unlikely that it will happen. There are always things that go wrong or you have a breakdown or whatever. Although it is true that, by pace, it seems that we can do it,” Verstappen commented in the post-race press conference in Canada. As it happened a few years ago with Mercedes, the exaggerated advantage is already the most repeated matter of debate in the World Cup. Until 2026, when the International Automobile Federation (FIA) will change the engine regulations and all teams will have the opportunity to reposition themselves on the grid, the Formula 1 regulations will remain almost intact and hence the question: How to stop Red? Bull?

The only way is and will be by building a car faster than yours. “The longer they leave the same regulations, the closer the rivals will get. Red Bull’s dominance is nothing new in Formula 1. There have been a few years, perhaps two in a row, in which there were two or three teams fighting for the victories. But if you look at the past, most seasons have been very clearly dominated by a single team”, Verstappen rightly analyzed.

So right that the boss of Formula 1, Stefano Domenicali, signed his own words. “Formula 1 has always been a sport of cycles, with a very dominant team that, at some point, meets another. Our goal is that in the future those cycles are shorter. I would like all 20 cars on the grid they had chances of victory, but that has never been the case”, commented the leader in the official podcast of the championship.

Formula 1 is still marked by the outcome of the 2021 World Cup, the Abu Dhabi controversy, the way in which the Mercedes era ended and that is why the rectors do not want to know anything about an intervention in the current results. According to Domenicali, the plan is to wait for Aston Martin, Mercedes or Ferrari to evolve their single-seaters so much as to threaten Red Bull. And if they don’t, nothing will happen. After all, despite the current dominance, audiences are growing and business is thriving. Although Verstappen and Pérez dominate all the remaining races this season, the show remains because there is hope. Something could happen.