Ex-Mercedes-CEO: 'Wouldn't matter if Verstappen was driving a s***box"

Toto Wolff made a famous statement by calling the W13 a 's***box'. However, former Mercedes CEO Nick Fry is convinced that Max Verstappen would also win in a 's***box and that he does not necessarily need the best Formula 1 car to do so.

'Verstappen would still beat everyone'

There has been frequent speculation about the outcome if all Formula 1 drivers drove an equivalent car. Fry, who was part of Brawn GP and then stayed with Mercedes until 2013, thinks the outcome would be anything but surprising.

"Unfortunately, I would have to say that Verstappen is showing that he is the best driver at the moment, and I don’t think it would matter much. It could even play into his hands, because he’s shown he’s good enough to be very adaptable and would probably drive any of the cars better than his competitors," Fry said in conversation with OLBG.

Whereas Wolff was still publicly apologising to Lewis Hamilton in 2022 for the "s***box" he had to drive, Fry thinks Verstappen would lead the standings even in a less powerful car and that he does not necessarily need a car like Red Bull Racing's supreme RB19 to do so.

"I heard someone say once ‘If you can drive, you can drive anything’. I don’t think it would matter if you put Max in a s***box or a Red Bull car, he’d probably still beat the rest of them. He’s very adaptable. I don’t think it would change much, sadly. If you started Max at the back of the grid, he’d still do better than most, but perhaps he wouldn’t win. A lot of it is due to the car. Red Bull has the best driver and the best car," Fry said.