Louis Dekker, Formula 1 reporter for the NOS, thinks it is a shame that less and less emotion can be heard over Max Verstappen’s on-board radio. The Dutchman has won the vast majority of Grands Prix in recent years, and according to Dekker, this is at the expense of the quality of the reactions afterwards.
Verstappen won ten races in a row in 2023 and started a new winning streak after a miss in Singapore. After the failure in Australia, the world champion hit back with the maximum score at Suzuka. Afterwards, Verstappen came across as quite businesslike on the on-board radio, much to Dekker’s annoyance. ‘There are other on-board radios that are a lot more fun. You almost always know what he is going to say,” says Dekker on the NOS Formula 1 podcast. “It also sounds a bit clinical, and so does Christian Horner, and the other people in the team.”
Simply lovely!
Dekker understands that a victory no longer has the same effect on the key players as it did three years ago. ‘The emotion is gone, but don’t blame them. I looked at those statistics again, and you are shocked at what is going on. Of the last 48 Grands Prix since he won his first world title, he has not won ten. So he has won 38 of the 48 Grands Prix. Then you can no longer say: oh, what a surprising victory. Then you have to say something on the on-board radio again. You can’t be happy 38 times in a row. You hear that back, and then it becomes a bit businesslike and clinical.’
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Red Bull Racing previously dominated from 2010 to 2013, and then Dekker was also bothered by the dominant force of those seasons. ‘When Sebastian Vettel won so much for Red Bull, that finger always came, very annoying. It won’t be long before we start to be bothered by that clinical response: Simply lovely, because we hear that far too often,’ says Dekker.
A defeated Verstappen is extra dangerous
Dekker also looked back on the Australian Grand Prix, which was not simply lovely for Verstappen. ‘It is now clear – Verstappen hints at this a bit – that something was not properly secured or screwed down. It was probably human error in Australia. The good news is that they can still make mistakes with that team,” Dekker is happy with the world champion’s miss.
The public broadcaster’s reporter only fears that such an error will cause little tension. ‘They don’t do that often, and the problem is: if they make a mistake in that team, you are almost certain that it will be corrected two weeks later. Verstappen also has that history: if he drives a mediocre race for him, you are almost certain that he will double half the field two weeks later.’
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