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Verstappen to beat Norris because of this? 'He is the best of them all'
- Ludo van Denderen
Max Verstappen has been aware for months that winning a Grand Prix with his current Red Bull Racing car is a challenge - perhaps even impossible. His mindset is focused on trying to rack up enough points for his fourth world title despite the inferior material compared to McLaren and Ferrari. And in doing so, Verstappen is looking for the limit, Guenther Steiner observed.
"In Austin, it worked, and here it didn't. He knows he cannot beat him [Norris] in terms of performance because his car is not good enough," the former Haas F1 team boss said in the Red Flags podcast. The Italian also stated that he understood some of Verstappen's tactics, but not all of them: "If he would have raced clean, there is a chance that Lando would not have won the race. But, Verstappen might have finished fourth. Then he would have had more points. But you can't be that strategic when you're in a race car, going into a corner at 250 kilometres per hour."
Which Verstappen will race in Brazil?
Steiner continued on, wondering aloud which Max Verstappen would appear on the track at the Brazilian Grand Prix: Will it be the Max of the last few races? Or will he opt for a different tactic? Either way, Lando Norris is going to have a tough go at the Dutchman. "Max is the smartest racer out there. Now he [Verstappen] is trying to win the championship. And he knows he can't win a race, not for a few races now. But can you have the strategy to drive people off, because you don't know if you will get a penalty and what that penalty is? It's not this easy," Steiner answered himself.
With that, the former team boss indicated that he expects Verstappen to choose to put up a fair fight with Norris in Brazil and the remaining races. And then Verstappen might just turn out to be the best because, Steiner said, "He is the best racer of them all, with Alonso."
This article was written in collaboration with Olly Darcy
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