Tom Coronel sees Red Bull Racing losing its grip on the world championship. According to the WTCR-driver the Mercedes W12 has proven to be the faster car, so it will be a tough job for Max Verstappen to successfully defend his six point lead in the world championship.

Coronel is not as optimistic as he used to be, but it is not that he is throwing in the towel with six Grands Prix to go. He puts Rob Kamphues in his place. "Now you are exaggerating, I am certainly not giving up. It was the same at the start of the season, then it looked the same for both cars. It doesn't look equal now."

According to the F1 analyst, we have to go back to early September, over a month and a half ago, for the last moment when Verstappen was truly dominant. "In the free practice sessions Max was there every time, but the last time was Zandvoort. I don't know what film you've been watching," responds Renger van der Zande, who is more positive and thinks Red Bull only got it wrong in Turkey.

Does Verstappen need luck?

Robert Doornbos goes on to say that there is more to winning a World Championship than just speed. He mentions that Verstappen scored eighteen points in Russia, while he had to start from the last row of the grid. 'Luck' is part of the equation in Doornbos' view. "But not in the last six races. If the car is faster...", Coronel counters.

Later in the broadcast of the Formula 1 café Coronel says after seeing Verstappen's interview after VT2: "It's not panic, but it's not like: 'We're looking forward to it'. You can see that he thinks it could be several things. It is too much. The difference is too big and he realises that, really."