F1 News

Herbert: 'Lovely to win and dominate, but it's not challenging'

'I would have thought Verstappen is probably bored out of his skull'

24 August 2023 at 06:00
Last update 24 August 2023 at 07:40
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  • Matt Gretton
  • Editor-in-Chief

Seemingly easily, Max Verstappen has already won 10 races this season. The Red Bull RB19 is the strongest car in the field, and in Verstappen's hands, the competition is trailing for now. Former Formula 1 driver Johnny Herbert also sees this and wonders in an interview with CasinoSite.NL whether Verstappen is bored behind the wheel.

All 12 races prior to the summer break were won by Red Bull. Sergio Perez took two victories, while teammate Verstappen took ten wins. All sprint races were also won by Red Bull drivers. Johnny Herbert questions whether this dominance is desirable for Formula 1. He stated: "Christian Horner has made it clear that Red Bull have no intention of letting up and not dominating the sport. That worries me. That is a mentality I understand, but from the racing point of view it is not a good thing if all they want to do is dominate. We want to make the sport better."

'Max is the type who wants to be challenged'

Verstappen's strong performances are also to Herbert's liking, but he does have a comment on the Dutchman's success: "I would have thought Max is probably bored out of his skull. It is lovely winning and dominating, but it is not challenging. And Max is the type of character that wants to be challenged. No-one is able to do that. You can say it’s up to everyone else to raise their game to create what Red Bull have created. As an ex-racer I’d want to be pushed and tested and challenged, I’d want to race. I wouldn’t want to just disappear into the distance."

Herbert thinks dominance is not the result of what ground-effect cars should create. The Brit thinks teams have too much control over the future development of Formula 1. He would like to see that changed. "The team’s whole ethos is to dominate but we don’t want domination. That was the whole concept of what the ground effect car was supposed to have improved. It concerns me," Herbert said.