Russell, Hamilton and Sainz unanimous: 'Max Verstappen is not unbeatable'
F1 News
Max Verstappen could secure the drivers' title this weekend in Las Vegas. Could the Dutchman be defeated having won four times in a row? The Top 3 in the 'Sin City', George Russell, Lewis Hamilton and Carlos Sainz believe so.
Can Verstappen be defeated next season?
All Verstappen had to focus on in Las Vegas was to finish ahead of Lando Norris, or that the Briton would not score more than two points today to become a four-time world champion. The Dutchman eventually finished in P5, behind the two Mercedes and two Ferrari drivers.
According to the top three, Verstappen's fourth title in a row does not be he cannot be defeated in a title battle. "Definitely. Nobody is unbeatable. And you go through these phases where teams and drivers together are dominating and people think if I went up alongside them I wouldn't be able to compete with them," Grand Prix winner George Russell began.
"You have got to have belief in yourself I think the three of us here all believe in ourself and for me personally, when I've teamed up with Lewis, Lewis is is the greatest of all time, and Max is is right up there with Lewis, so I absolutely believe in myself that we could fight him in equal machinery," said the Briton.
Sainz also shares the same opinion, seeing how close it is in 2024: "As much as I think Max has done an incredible job this year it just shows the second half of the season, eight drivers within a tenth, each other we could all beat him week in, week out. He was extremely good at dominating with a dominant car and extremely good at not making mistakes the second half of the season and that's what's given him, for me, Driver of the Year and the Championship," Sainz continued.
"But the second half of the season just shows that when we're all in equal, more of an equal machinery, we can all go up against each other and make each other's life difficult. And everyone starts making mistakes when they're under pressure and everyone starts complaining about their car and everyone starts complaining in the media about their car. It's all about pressure management and not having that margin. Whenever you don't have two, three tenths margin on your nearest rival or your teammate, suddenly a pressure ramps up and everyone is human," the Spaniard concluded.
Hamilton kept it brief himself. "It really depends how... Whether they have a second and a half advantage at the first race again like they did this year," the seven-time world champion commented.
This article was written in collaboration with Jarlo van der Vloed
Want more Formula 1? Then follow GPblog on our various social media channels!