(Motorsport-Total.com) – In the early 2010s, Sebastian Vettel won four consecutive World Championship titles with Red Bull. However, in the 2014 season, when Formula 1 received completely new regulations, Vettel’s dominance ended and the German never became World Champion again. Is Max Verstappen now facing this same fate?
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In fact, there are unmistakable parallels between the two champions. Verstappen also became World Champion four times in a row with Red Bull between 2021 and 2024. In 2025, it was still enough for the runner-up title, but in 2026, the Bulls completely collapsed under the new regulations.
“It’s exactly the same situation,” judges expert Marc Surer in an exclusive video interview on the Formel1.de YouTube channel. He explains: “Sebastian Vettel became World Champion with the blown diffuser. And then these hybrid cars came with new regulations, new rules – and that advantage was gone.”
Vettel was “simply able to use the old regulations up to and including 2013 better than anyone else,” says Surer, explaining with regard to the blown diffuser: “There was a genius in the way he practically drove into the corner and was already on the throttle to have more downforce.”
But for the 2014 season, Formula 1 switched from V8 engines to new hybrid regulations with V6 turbo engines. “With the new regulations, this advantage was gone. And besides, he didn’t like the new regulations,” Surer recalls.
Vettel was “no longer able to play to his strengths,” according to the expert, who explains: “The ability before was precisely to drive into the corners at incredible speed and also to accelerate.” As a former Formula 1 driver, he knows “what kind of nerve that takes.”
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Surer: Verstappen’s advantage is also gone now
“You think you’re too fast, but you know that if you step on the gas, you have more grip,” Surer explains, saying of Vettel: “No one else implemented it as perfectly as he did.” After four consecutive World Championship titles, the German lost the internal duel against his new Red Bull teammate Daniel Ricciardo in 2014.
“As a newcomer, Ricciardo naturally just said: ‘Okay, this is Formula 1, I can deal with that,'” Surer emphasizes. Vettel, on the other hand, had his great strength taken away by the new regulations. “It’s similar to Max Verstappen today,” Surer draws a comparison.
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Verstappen managed to “gain a huge advantage in the fast corners during the ground-effect years from 2022 because he simply had the courage,” the Swiss explains, emphasizing: “That’s why his teammates always looked so poor.”
“Now he can’t do that anymore. And he’s now like Sebastian Vettel, saying that with the new regulations he can’t show his talent,” says Surer. After the first three races of the 2026 Formula 1 season, Verstappen is only in ninth place in the World Championship standings.
Sebastian Vettel finished the first hybrid season in 2014 without a win in fifth place in the World Championship and left Red Bull at the end of the year for Ferrari. However, he never became World Champion again with the Scuderia. At the end of 2022, Vettel finally retired from Formula 1.