“Familiarity breeds contempt": David Coulthard warns too much Max Verstappen and Red Bull dominance could take away the magic from F1

Former Red Bull driver David Coulthard has warned that too much dominance from Max Verstappen could take away the magic from F1. Ever since the Austrian team has provided the driver with a competitive car, he has not looked back. It all began in 2021 when he first competed for the title against Lewis Hamilton.

The title was decided in the last race in Abu Dhabi, albeit in controversial circumstances. From that point onwards, however, it has been a one-man show.

Max Verstappen dominated the sport in 2022, winning his second title and followed it up with another title in 2023. What makes it even better is that the driver has looked more dominant than ever.

The 2022 F1 season had some competition from Ferrari and Charles Leclerc but Max Verstappen overcame that to win a record 15 races that season. The 2023 season saw him extend that record even further to 19 wins in a season.

Talking to The Telegraph, former Red Bull driver David Coulthard felt that too much domination could take the magic away from the sport. He said:

“That expression ‘familiarity breeds contempt’? If you adapt that to sport, the same thing goes. Too much success kind of takes away the magic. With sport, we look to be inspired, to grow, to move forward, and if one team is doing all that, then it doesn’t give enough hope for everybody.”

Max Verstappen's boss does not think the feat of the 2023 F1 season can be repeated

Red Bull and Max Verstappen's boss Christian Horner does not think that their dominance in the 2023 season can be repeated. He highlighted that such runs have a lot of contributing factors. He told F1.com after the last race of the 2023 season:

"I don’t think we’ll ever see a repeat, certainly not in our lifetimes, of what we managed to achieve [last] year with a car that’s managed the kind of dominance of RB19. I’m fully expecting with stable regulations, [there’ll be] diminishing returns for us, because I think we got to the top of the curve quicker than others. The field is going to converge. For us, it’s difficult to know who that will be. Will it be McLaren? Will it be Ferrari? Will it be Mercedes?"

He added:

"It keeps moving around behind us. But that’s what we’re fully expecting going into [this] year. There’s always a reset as you go into the following year. I’m convinced that you’ll see a lot more cars that look like the RB19 philosophy going into next year. If you stand still in this business, you tend to be going backwards. I think we have got up that curve quicker than others, but we’re into a law of diminishing returns.”

Red Bull and Max Verstappen would however be looking to extend the winning streak even further in 2024.