Why is Norris behind Verstappen? 'He is Conor McGregor!'

Max Verstappen could already be crowned champion at the Las Vegas GP. According to former driver David Coulthard, the Dutchman stands out in pushing the boundaries of the sport, and explained why he is different at the moment from Lando Norris.

Entering the final tripleheader that begins this weekend in the United States, Verstappen has a 62-lead in the drivers' standings, and could put the final nail in Lando Norris' coffin already on Saturday night.

Las Vegas is also one of the biggest cities in the world of MMA and boxing events, therefore, Coulthard came up with a comparison between the two sports in The Red Flags podcast. "Max is Conor McGregor. He's UFC. And Lando at the moment is an incredibly talented boxer. But who's going to win if there was no rules in that? And it's going to be the guy that's going to, with the exception of eye gouging and testicle tickling, everything else goes," the former McLaren and Red Bull Racing driver began.

According to Coulthard, every big champion has had these moments in their careers where they went for being aggressive on track. Ayrton Senna locked horns with Alain Prost in 1989 and 1990. Michael Schumacher crashed with Jacques Villeneuve in 1997. The Briton only believes Lewis Hamilton stands out in that regard. "That's why he deserves to be in the same category as an Ayrton, a Michael. I say Lewis, but I put in brackets Lewis because Lewis actually has done it in a very, let's say, uncontroversial way."

"I know there was a contact with Max, in Max's first championship year at Silverstone, that's about as much on the edge contact I've seen from Lewis. He's a very clean racer, he manages to keep out of a lot of controversy through his career so he's this sort of anomaly in that group of the villains that you say," he added.

However, Coulthard does not believe it is a bad thing. "There's always going to be the ones that are seen as being a little bit on edge. But what they've actually done is redefined the modern era of where the line is. Michael did it. Ayrton did it. Max is doing it. And that's because every generation should be better. Now, better doesn't mean nicer. Better just means, they deliver," he concluded, underlining what makes a driver special in Formula One.

Want more Formula 1? Then follow GPblog on our various social media channels!

X | Instagram | TikTok | YouTube