Who would win a Formula 1 race if all drivers had to compete in identical cars? According to Nick Fry, not much would change at the top
Is Max Verstappen really the best Formula 1 driver at the moment or did the Dutchman only dominate the premier class so clearly in 2023 because of the equipment? For Nick Fry, former managing director of the Mercedes Formula 1 team, the answer is clear
In an interview with OLBG, he answers the question of whether Verstappen’s lead would be as big with standardized cars: “Unfortunately, I have to say that Verstappen is showing that he is the best driver at the moment and I don’t think it would make much difference.”
Fry says of the Red Bull driver: “It might actually play into his hands because he’s shown he’s good enough to be very adaptable and he’d probably drive any of the cars better than his rivals.”
“I once heard someone say, ‘If you can drive, you can drive anything’. I think it wouldn’t matter if you put Max in a shitbox or a Red Bull car, he’d probably still beat the rest of them,” said Fry.
Verstappen’s great strength is that he is “very adaptable”. “Unfortunately, I don’t think [one-size-fits-all cars] would change much. If you put Max at the back of the grid, he would still do better than most,” believes Fry.
With regard to Verstappen’s dominance in the last Formula 1 season, he also admits: “A lot of that is down to the car.” Ultimately, however, Red Bull simply had “the best driver and the best car” in the past season.
Verstappen set a new Formula 1 record with 19 wins in 2023. Team-mate Sergio Perez finished as runner-up with just two victories and, with 285 points, scored less than half as many points as Verstappen (575 points).
In 2024, the Dutchman has the chance to become only the fifth driver in the history of the premier class to win four world championship titles in a row. Only Juan Manuel Fangio, Michael Schumacher, Sebastian Vettel and Lewis Hamilton have achieved this before him
