Max Verstappen's dad Jos makes five-year prediction that's bad news for Lewis Hamilton

Max Verstappen's father Jos has claimed the Dutchman will have 'a great five years' as he predicts a dominant fate in F1. Jos stressed that "the strongest driver always floats at the top", hinting that his son Max can get more titles over rivals Mercedes and Ferrari, including Lewis Hamilton who is set to sign a new contract to stay in sport beyond 2023.

Most importantly, Jos stressed that the F1 rules will "largely remain the same" for the next few years, which he says will help Max. That would be bad news for seven-time world champion Hamilton, who has been absent from the title fight this season due to a lack of pace. Speaking to Viaplay, he said: "The rules will stay largely the same, so the peloton will get closer and we'll have better races.

"But the strongest driver always floats at the top. If Red Bull continues like this, we will certainly have five great years." Traditionally, teams can be dominant for the duration of a set of rules, as Mercedes was from 2014 to 2021.

Before that, Red Bull won four titles between the last rules package from 2009 to 2013. With Verstappen winning 12 races this season and Mercedes more than a second slower at pure pace, it's likely the champion in title is set to continue its streak dominance in 2023.

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Verstappen controversially secured his second title on Sunday after Charles Leclerc received a five-second post-race penalty. The Ferrari star was given a penalty for running wide at the final chicane and gaining an advantage.

That prompted Sergio Perez to P2 and gave Verstappen the points he needed to secure the championship. Jos was not in Japan to celebrate with Max this season after admitting the pressure was "unbearable".

He said, "I'm usually there, but I've been traveling for a while and getting into Japan hasn't been the easiest. Last year the pressure got unbearable and when it was all over , we were overwhelmed by incredibly powerful emotions.

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"It was very different this year because we knew the title would come sooner or later, we just didn't know when." There was initial confusion as to whether Verstappen had won the championship as the race failed to complete the full distance.

Most people thought full points wouldn't be awarded, but an FIA rule said that only applied if the race didn't resume. This means that all the points have been distributed, which allowed Verstappen to secure the title.