Is F1 in danger of slipping into a predictable routine again?

Never has a sport needed life to be breathed back into it as Formula One did after years of Mercedes domination between 2014 and 2020.

The reality was that Toto Wolff’s team had been so superior that interest in the sport began to waver after Mercedes won seven consecutive drivers’ and constructors’ championships.

You could even go as far as saying that the sport was really struggling at the start of the 2019 season but thanks to the release of Netflix’s Drive to Survive at the start of the same year, and then Michael Masi’s interpretation of the rules while presiding over the 2021 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix season finale, popularity in F1 spectacularly boomed.

The F1 rise of Verstappen

Yes, the sport was saved from a future of irrelevance when Max Verstappen was finally able to break the stranglehold that Mercedes and Lewis Hamilton had on F1. However, 14 months on from those heady days, we could be seeing the beginning of another cycle of total domination given that the Dutchman followed up that championship with another in 2022.

Furthermore, the latest sport betting odds as far as the 2023 drivers championship goes price Verstappen at just 4/5 to make it three world titles in as many years. This all begs the question of whether we’ve ultimately seen one period of extended domination being swapped for another.

At least, was this bright new dawn of healthy competition a false one?

Is the writing on the wall for F1?

One would have to conclude that it does feel this way, especially when you take into account that Red Bull were also able to win the constructors’ championship in 2022.

In other words, Christian Horner’s team is only going from strength to strength which is an ominous sign given that we are at the very beginning of the new era of F1 with the next regulation changes only set to take place in 2026.

Indeed, Red Bull seemed to have cracked the code following the end of the V6 hybrid era and are in a prime position to continue to build on their early success.

How do you beat a man driven to win in the fastest car?

What this essentially means is that the sport could be about to enter a time where Red Bull are seemingly impossible to beat when you take a moment to consider that they have the fastest car and, significantly, the most talented driver on the grid.

On top of the Dutchman’s phenomenal talent behind the wheel, it’s also worth taking note of the fact that Verstappen possesses an insatiable appetite for winning which means it’s unlikely that the door will be left ajar for the likes of Hamilton, Charles Leclerc, or Carlos Sainz to get a foot in.

Once that door slams shut – as Hamilton proved for close to a decade –  it becomes incredibly difficult to unlock again with the only hope of prizing it open being a regulation change. If this is the case, then F1 is on the brink of slipping into a predictable routine again.

Needless to say, the 2023 season could be a defining one for F1 as they once again battle to keep the public’s attention.

Conversely, it could also be the year when a new thrilling chapter is written if the current predictions are turned on their head. It’s time for F1 to show the world that anything can and does happen in the sport.