De Vries can't do anything with "unfair discussions" about Red Bull: "We need to take our hats off to them"

Nyck de Vries finds it unfair that there is so much complaining about the dominance of Red Bull Racing and Max Verstappen. According to the Dutchman, it's nothing new for someone to dominate in Formula 1. The AlphaTauri driver believes that making regulation changes to address Red Bull's superiority is undesirable.

In an interview with the Dutch branch of Motorsport.com, De Vries refers to the discussion as unfair, as having dominant drivers has been part of Formula 1 for decades. He mentions Mercedes and Ferrari as examples, demonstrating that the phenomenon is inherent to the sport. "Of course, it was exciting to see Max and Lewis fighting for the championship just before the regulation changes. But we all have to take our hats off to what Red Bull is showing now. They have done a phenomenal job by bringing such a competitive package onto the track."

Moreover, Verstappen is delivering performances at the top of his ability, according to his compatriot. "He delivers week after week. Is that bad for the sport? I don't think so. People who have been following Formula 1 for a long time know that it has always been like this, that there are seasons where it becomes clear early on who will win the title, and there are seasons that remain exciting until the very end. This is normal in sports."

De Vries has a different view: "You don't hear anyone talk about that"

De Vries even sees it this way: according to the 28-year-old, the field has never been so close together. "But you don't hear anyone talk about that. People only focus on the positions. Last year, during the first season with the new regulations, we briefly saw a trend towards better races. But the teams don't stand still. They always try to find more downforce and performance. Unfortunately, that comes at the expense of racing and overtaking. When you have a lot of downforce, it's just much harder to follow another car."

There are other aspects that determine whether a race is exciting or not. "Something that is rarely mentioned is tire management. Previously, there was much more tire degradation. Except for Barcelona and Bahrain, all the races this year have been one-stop races. And when we talk about degradation, we are not even talking about real wear, but purely about what they call thermal wear, where the tires get too hot and lose performance."

"However, something that often provided overtaking opportunities and interesting races in the past five years was the significant difference between the tires being used at different moments," continues the former F2 and Formula E champion. "But it is inevitable that cars evolve and teams extract better performance from them, which makes the races slightly less interesting. What can be done about that, I don't know."

De Vries not in favor of rules against Red Bull and Verstappen

Verstappen suggested the idea of keeping the regulations stable for as long as possible. "I understand his thought process. But if you look at the midfield, everyone is already very close together," De Vries knows all too well. "And just having everyone close together doesn't necessarily lead to better races. Ultimately, exciting races come from having differences. And you have to create those differences somehow. Plus, you need to be able to follow closely, because otherwise it won't happen."

According to De Vries, regulation changes should not be introduced to stop the dominance of Red Bull and Verstappen. Artificially creating excitement in the sport, as some may call it, should not be an option. "It's a competitive world, and Red Bull has simply done a better job so far. There's not much more I can say about it."