Verstappen drives Norris crazy by being insanely mistake-free

Seven wins in 10 Grands Prix. If you do scoreboard journalism, you could argue that Verstappen is once again easily running away with the title. After all, add the seven pole positions, and you would think that the competition is hardly competitive. In reality, though, things are different than they seem at first glance.

"Max is not making any mistakes so as soon as you make one little mistake, they're going to be ahead." Lando Norris' statement says it all. The Brit with McLaren has been close to Verstappen during several races, feeling every time that his car is better, but at the end of the race, Verstappen still stands with the biggest trophy in his hands.

In Imola, it was visible for the first time. Norris should have started on pole position with his car, especially given Oscar Piastri's lap at that circuit for the first time. From P2, Norris made it exciting, but Verstappen held off the Briton in the final laps.

What makes Verstappen so good

In Canada, it happened again. Norris even drove in the lead for a while. Yes, Norris had the issue with the safety car, but was also unable to attack Verstappen after that safety car. On the restart, Verstappen drove away.

Again, Norris seemed to have a car with which he should have won in Barcelona. Yet again it was not Norris, but Verstappen who took the win. Why? Because Verstappen makes no mistakes. He keeps his foot on the accelerator when he has to go across the grass, outsmarts his rival at the first corner and wastes no time behind George Russell.

The unique, consistent level that Verstappen has been achieving since Canada 2018 is now increasingly coming to the surface. In recent years, competitors around him moaned that they did not have the same material. Now that they do have that material, they are finding out how much of the performance came because of Verstappen.