'Verstappen was again a machine, but Norris rose far above himself'

With five victories in nine races, nobody can deny anymore that Max Verstappen is the big favourite for the world title. Ross Brawn, general manager of motorsport Formula 1, acknowledges this in his column for The official website of Formula 1. Brawn also spoke of the championship potential of the Dutchman.

Real harmony at Red Bull

"Max is in a great place at the moment. He's working well with his team and you can see there's real harmony," Brawn opened his column to say.

"Red Bull has a strong car and everything is coming together. He got massive support in Austria, but when we go to Silverstone, the support will be the other way around and everyone will be cheering for [Lewis] Hamilton."

With the win in Austria, Verstappen has once again moved further ahead of Hamilton. The Dutchman's lead is now 32 points over the Briton. "I've said before in this column that we always thought he would be world champion and he's proving that in abundance now".

Norris is Driver of the Day

Despite the praise for Verstappen, Brawn has a different choice as Driver of the Day. "Based on the weekend as a whole, Lando [Norris] is it. He delivered a sensational qualifying and followed that up with a great race. Max was a machine again, but I think Lando went way above and beyond himself - and that makes him my Driver of the Day."

According to Brawn, there were always high expectations for Norris. "He is now consistently living up to that expectation. The McLaren driver has continually developed this year and seems to have taken a big step forward. He's a great talent." 

Brawn believes Formula 1 is blessed with the new generation of drivers. "Lewis is the benchmark and then we have Max, Lando, George [Russell], Carlos [Sainz], Charles [Leclerc]."