F1 News
"We have the Max championship and we have the F1 championship"
- GPblog.com
Max Verstappen is performing near-perfectly in 2023. In Bahrain, he won gloriously after a strong pole position. In Saudi Arabia, he finished second after bad luck during qualifying and the crazy race of Australia he endured sublimely and won. According to Christijan Albers, the Dutchman is driving his own championship.
So says the Dutch former F1 driver in the Formula 1 podcast of De Telegraaf. Verstappen has yet to drop a point and does not seem likely to do so later this year. It might be another perfect year for the Red Bull Racing driver like 2022. Albers: "The problem we have now is, we have the Max championship and we have the Formula One championship."
Verstappen in his own championship
Albers explains the current state of the F1 championship by stating that there are two different championships going on. "You just have Max's championship, he just drives away, he drives pole position, it's all done. And then you have the Formula One championship and there it's really just about Mercedes, Aston Martin, Ferrari and that field is pretty close together. Then you have another stroke of luck; if Pérez messes up a bit then you still get a bit of a fun situation through the season about who goes for second position."
That regular F1 championship is now only about P2, according to Albers. The Dutchman then at least hopes for a nice fight for that spot behind Verstappen. Pérez already showed the first sign of weakening in Australia, after also having driven two strong races. Last year in Abu Dhabi, the Mexican failed to beat Ferrari' s Charles Leclerc, preventing him from finishing second in the championship. Albers continued: "Then you will see that he might not manage it again."