Ferrari and Mercedes clearly fear Verstappen's dominance

Max Verstappen has become world champion for the second time and the way he has done so is instilling fear in rivals. Indeed, with new regulations just in place, it remains to be seen whether anyone will be able to beat Verstappen and Red Bull in the next three years.

Newey shows his talent

In the Mercedes era, Verstappen still managed to snatch a world title away from the Germans in 2021. The hybrid era had been one for Mercedes and Lewis Hamilton. That Verstappen managed to grab another title in 2021 at the end of that era was particularly handsome.

However, the biggest opportunity lay in 2022. That was when new regulations would come in for the cars and engine development was frozen. A unique opportunity for Adrian Newey and his team to build a rocket of a car again, but with championship contention in 2021, it was not made any easier. Whereas Ferrari was able to shift its focus to 2022 much earlier, Red Bull could only do so much later.

Yet in this respect, Newey is proving to be another phenomenon. Despite less time and money to spend in 2022, he managed to build the best car again. Ferrari still started well, but the F1-75's development plan was far less than Red Bull's. The RB18 was well-developed, and at this point, it is no longer up to speed by anyone. Certainly not in Verstappen's hands.

Mercedes and Ferrari are afraid

That Mercedes and Ferrari have been put at such a big disadvantage by Red Bull Racing in 2022 is a big problem for those teams. This is because these regulations will remain until 2025 so Red Bull's lead will have to be made up first. However, Red Bull is not sitting still either, and so Mercedes and Ferrari are now in a situation that Mercedes' rivals suffered from between 2014 and 2021.

Not surprisingly, we now see Mercedes and Ferrari taking Red Bull down in other ways. The budget cap story came from the German and Italian media, not entirely coincidentally the countries where these teams come from. This is not new to F1 either, Red Bull certainly did everything possible between 2019 and 2021 to expose abuses at Mercedes in order to gain ground on them. The fact that Red Bull's competitors are now doing the same is therefore not surprising.

However, it does show the fear of these teams. If you are close to each other, then you don't need these kinds of tactics, but the competitors know they need to slow Red Bull down if they want to have any chance of winning a title before 2025. And that makes the future picture for Red Bull, Verstappen and fans of the team and driver look bright.

Five titles for Verstappen

Indeed, as mentioned, there are no major rule changes until 2025 and each team can build on the current car. Red Bull has laid a good foundation to build on and also has an engine that is reliable and competitive. If Newey and his team keep doing their job, chances are that Mercedes and Ferrari will not be able to close that lead.

With Max, the team also has the best driver at the moment. Sebastian Vettel won four world titles in a row with Red Bull, but Verstappen could potentially win five in a row. With Sergio Perez, he has a good teammate, but not one who can beat him over an entire season. So we don't see a situation like Hamilton/Rosberg in 2016 happening anytime soon.

In that respect, there is nothing standing in Verstappen's way of winning five world titles in a row, provided he can maintain the current focus himself. So far, Verstappen has been very good at maximising every weekend. As long as he keeps doing that, there are few drivers who can beat the still only 25-year-old driver. However, the competition will be keen on revenge, so Red Bull and Verstappen cannot take anything for granted if they want to break those records.