In 2023, Max Verstappen confidently took his third title with nineteen victories. 1997 World Champion Jacques Villeneuve believes that if the opponents had worked with the same dedication as Verstappen, the championship battle would have been more intense.
Jacques Villeneuve: “Red Bull’s advantage is not that big. They won all their pole positions by a tenth or half a tenth. These are minimal leads, not dominance. The situation is not at all the same as during the years when Mercedes had the lead, when they were one second ahead of everyone and everyone was happy with everything.
Max achieved this result because he thinks about racing 24 hours a day. He never gets tired and gets everything out of the car. For him there is nothing else but racing.
He is constantly behind the wheel of a simulator and races in go-karts. I have never seen other racers so dedicated to their work. Maybe just Fernando Alonso, while the rest are busy with something else. They get out of the car and move on to other activities. If the others focused on Max’s work, maybe they would perform at Max’s level.”
Jacques Villeneuve added that Verstappen worked with the same dedication during the season finale in Abu Dhabi as in the first race: “That is the big difference between Max, his teammate and everyone else.
In the final stages of the season in training, he gave everything with the same dedication as on the first day, as if he were about to fight for the title. For Max, the big picture doesn’t matter; when he goes on the court, he gives it his all.”
Source: F1 News
I am Christopher Clyde, an experienced journalist and content writer with a passion for sports. I have been writing about Formula 1 news for the past five years and am currently employed as an author at athletistic.com, one of the top sports websites in the US.
