'If Max Had Slipped On Banana Peel' Championship Would Have Been Different Says Brown

Wednesday, 27 December 2023 at 00:00

McLaren Formula One team's CEO Zak Brown addressed the competitive situation on the grid in the 2023 season.

If we look at just about any end-of-the-season statistics, they all clearly point in one direction - Max Verstappen's and Red Bull's complete dominance.

However, anybody who watched races in 2023 will know it was more interesting than that. The fact is that Verstappen gapped everybody by 290 points, but all the drivers behind him were very equally matched.

McLaren's CEO Zak Brown recently evaluated where F1 is heading under the budget cap regulations, and he believes the gris will only be converging from now on. As quoted by motorsport.com, he said:

"For the championship, it's probably going to be the same cast of characters, but I think Formula 1 is going to get more competitive."

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If the triple World Champion was eliminated from the most recent season, there would be seven different Grand Prix winners from four different teams.

"If Max had slipped on a banana peel, the championship would have looked quite a bit different with how many people have been on the podium, how many people finished second."

It is quite remarkable how closely matched the grid was in 2023, and there are still two more years remaining under the same regulations which should mean everybody will be even closer.

Red Bull Racing team principal Christian Horner said he expects other teams to catch up as the team from Milton Keynes is nearing the top of the development curve.

While it is expected that there always will be a few smaller teams that won't quite be able to compete for the podium, Brown anticipates very closely matched top four or five teams.

"I'm anticipating that getting closer and I think it'll be great for the sport, that there won't be this level of dominance and it'll be like seven, eight drivers that can win in any one weekend."