One team boss didn't pick Verstappen as the best: 'A bit pathetic'
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- Ludo van Denderen
By far, Max Verstappen was the best Formula 1 driver of the 2023 season. No one can doubt what you would think. Wrong thinking: One of the team bosses in Formula 1 does not see Verstappen as the very best of the past year. Indeed, not even as the number two. Is the jealousy really so great that it cannot be acknowledged that Verstappen is the very best?
Such an election is always fun: first, it was the F1 drivers who got to choose which of their colleagues (or themselves) they thought was the best in '23. No surprise that Verstappen topped this list after voting among 19 drivers (Lewis Hamilton did not want to participate). Team bosses were also allowed to tell Formula 1's official website who they thought was the best of last season.
Verstappen the best, but not for everyone
Unsurprisingly, they too overwhelmingly chose Verstappen. Unlike the drivers' vote, Formula 1 does want to tell how many points Verstappen got in the team bosses' vote, namely 240. Since the points had been awarded according to the points system used by F1 after Grands Prix, it therefore appears that one team boss did not give Verstappen the maximum number of points of 25.
There were a total of 250 points to be awarded by the 10 team bosses, and the simple arithmetic is that Verstappen thus did not receive 10 points. From this, you can see that he was not even awarded second place by an anonymous team boss. After all, the three-time champion would then have received 18 points and finished on 243 points.
Childish behaviour
You don't know for sure, of course, but the thought is still very strong that this team boss awarded the 25 and 18 points to his own drivers. Let's face it: that's a bit pathetic. Is it really that hard to (recognise) class? And do you really think it matters that by giving points to your own drivers, they end up higher on the year-end list? It's all hugely childish.
It is pointless to guess which team boss preferred to get a whitewash from his own men rather than give Verstappen the credit the Dutchman deserves. We will never know because, as mentioned, the vote was anonymous. And that conscious team boss knows that too. But would he really take himself seriously after this vote?