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Marc Surer has watched this story before. A dominant Red Bull driver, new regulations that remove the specific advantage he was built around, and a growing sense that the partnership is running out of time. The last time it happened the driver's name was Sebastian Vettel. This time it is Max Verstappen.
The Vettel Parallel
Surer drew the comparison to Formel1.de directly. "It is exactly the same situation. Vettel became world champion with the blown diffuser. But then the new regulations came, and suddenly his advantage was completely gone. He was a real genius when it came to rotating a car into a corner while still accelerating, which allowed him to generate more downforce." That specific skill made Vettel exceptional under one set of rules and left him exposed under the next.
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What the 2026 Rules Have Taken From Verstappen
The parallel with Verstappen is structural. "These rules have taken away his greatest strength. He always had an enormous advantage in the fast corners simply because he had more courage. In that way he could also gradually make his teammates look slow. He can no longer do that now." Verstappen's edge was always most visible in high-speed sections where commitment and car feel separated him from the rest. The 2026 regulations have shifted the performance differentiators away from exactly that territory.
One Important Difference
Surer acknowledged the parallel is not perfect. Verstappen is still ahead of his teammate. Isack Hadjar has shown genuine speed and beaten Verstappen in qualifying on several occasions, but overall Verstappen remains the faster Red Bull driver. That is a meaningful distinction from 2014, when Daniel Ricciardo arrived at Red Bull and immediately outperformed Vettel in his own machinery. That result effectively ended Vettel's time at the team.
Whether Verstappen's story ends the same way depends on what Red Bull can deliver with the RB22 over the coming months. Vettel left after one difficult season and never won another title. Verstappen will be hoping the analogy ends there.
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