Red Bull Content Pool

F1 News

Praise for Verstappen and Red Bull: 'Max is driving incredibly strong'

Praise for Verstappen and Red Bull: 'Max is driving incredibly strong'

01-08-2022 12:26 Last update: 13:13
39

GPblog.com

In the aftermath of the Hungarian Grand Prix there is again a lot of criticism for Ferrari, but of course also a lot of praise for the great race of Max Verstappen. Jacques Villeneuve thinks the battle is as good as won and sees a strong Verstappen on course for his second world title in Formula 1.

Given the exciting races we have seen this year, Villeneuve would expect a 'much more exciting fight' for the title. He says it is a good sign that drivers are able to follow and overtake each other better, confirming that the new rules are working well. However, the tension in the title race is diminishing rather than increasing, whereas the opposite would be expected as the season progresses.

Villeneuve praises Verstappen

Villeneuve has nothing but praise for the way Verstappen steamed to victory at the Hungaroring. "Max is a machine, it's insane," he wrote in his column for Formule1.nl. "He wasn't even tired yesterday, I don't think he even needs a holiday! He's driving so incredibly strong this year, the team doesn't make mistakes either." When things do go wrong, Verstappen and Red Bull Racing know how to limit the damage as much as possible.

The 1997 world champion stressed that Verstappen would have been fine to limit the damage without winning the race. "He didn't need to win but he did. That's the way they go into the race, they don't put any pressure on themselves but then play it excellently," Villeneuve said in praise of the Red Bull Racing team. Meanwhile, Verstappen's gap to Leclerc is eighty points and Red Bull's gap to Ferrari is 97 points.