'Verstappen races Leclerc more cleanly than Hamilton in 2021'

Bad luck in Bahrain

For Verstappen, the start of the season did not go as hoped. The Red Bull driver drove a solid race towards second place, but just before the end of the race his car broke down. The reigning world champion lost 26 points to Charles Leclerc, but made up for some of that in Jeddah.

''He hasn't done much wrong, but he only picked up points this weekend. The dropout in Bahrain really set him back. He is fast. Qualifying didn't work for him, but that made the race more fun for us to watch. His race pace was probably the best of all of them there (on the track),'' said Palmer in the Post Race Show of Formula1.com.

Verstappen races more cleanly

Red Bull had deliberately chosen a setup with less downforce. This cost Verstappen time in qualifying, but in the race it ultimately benefited him. Although he climbed to P2 through the safety car with some luck, he had to pull out all the stops to eventually beat Charles Leclerc for the win.

''Leclerc and Verstappen seem to be just slightly ahead of the other two (Sergio Perez and Carlos Sainz ). Max should be equal in points with Charles, but that dropout in Bahrain is holding him back. I do like the way he is racing now. It's much more clean than it was sometimes with Max and Lewis last year. The two have a lot of respect for each other. Hopefully it will stay that way for a long time, because the racing is fun to watch and goes on for laps,'' the former F1 driver concludes.