Michael Bleekemolen sees no way to slow down Max Verstappen this season. The Dutchman was supreme in the first two races of this season and thus continues last season flawlessly. It is a great frustration for the other teams, because there does not seem to be a solution to stop this dominance yet. That doesn’t scare the former Formula 1 driver.
“I didn’t expect anything other than that it would be a bit the same as last year,” Bleekemolen begins in conversation with F1Maximaal. ‘Other teams are not suddenly going to find that half second that they miss on Verstappen and Red Bull. The hole is too big and could perhaps have been even bigger. But at some point Verstappen will also pay attention to his tires. So his superiority is very clear.’
‘Class B is fun too, isn’t it?’
After the first race in Bahrain, other teams hoped that Verstappen would be less dominant in Saudi Arabia, but there too the Dutchman proved to be too strong. “It will remain as it is,” said Bleekemolen. ‘I watched the race abroad. Some people told me they don’t watch anymore because the same guy always wins. But we have the best fights ahead. Verstappen is class A, but isn’t class B fun too?’
During the last race in Saudi Arabia, Verstappen was also rarely seen by the directors. ‘Because the other thing (the drivers behind Verstappen, ed.) is also very attractive,’ thinks Bleekemolen. ‘Verstappen just thinks he has become a kind of Senna. It’s beautiful what he experiences. Who doesn’t want that? If the bank account is filled every time and the points are added up, it really won’t be boring for him.’
Text continues below the image.
Hundredth podium
In the meantime, Verstappen has already stood on the podium for the hundredth time. “Really fantastic, but I am also convinced that he is in a different class from the rest,” says Bleekemolen. ‘That’s what’s going on in my view. He is simply very good and exudes a lot of self-confidence. He gets into that car and thinks they can’t do anything to him anyway. That way he’s racing.”
There are plenty of people who think that Verstappen will win everything. “It certainly looks that way,” says Bleekemolen. ‘I think that can work. Normally, if you look at the quality differences, the others really aren’t catching up. He (Verstappen, ed.) has simply been in the lead all year round. But it is dangerous for Formula 1, of course, because people find it too monotonous.’
Bag of potatoes
Yet Bleekemolen thinks that little can be changed. ‘How can they intervene? Should he bring a bag of potatoes?’ he wonders out loud. ‘It’s Formula 1. You can do anything, but that doesn’t fit here. Because Formula 1 is high-tech and involves the development of car manufacturers, so you cannot punish them if they are good. So I don’t know how Red Bull can be slowed down a bit.’
“Maybe they could reverse the starting line-up with the first eight,” Bleekemolen offers as a possible suggestion. ‘That could offer a little more challenge. But hey, Verstappen still wins. When he is on pole position, he is away by two seconds every time within two laps. That’s just because it drives better. It will continue like this for a long time this year,” Bleekemolen concludes.
By: Rick Pasker
