Verstappen laughs after Russell comment: 'I'm a second faster'

The best three drivers in Formula 1. A fan might list his favourites, but for the drivers themselves, it turns out to be a lot harder. In Austria, George Russell and Nyck de Vries in particular tried to evade the question.

In F1, it is more difficult to compare athletes than in other sports. This is because the car plays a crucial role in a driver's performance, so a result does not always say everything about the athlete's qualities. For example, Russell argues that Verstappen is not suddenly a second faster now than seasons when he only won a few races.

Russell does not really arrive at a complete top three outside Verstappen, the others making it a little easier on themselves. "Okay, short and not painful: Max, Fernando (Alonso) and Pierre (Gasly)," says Nico Hulkenberg. After him, it is De Vries' turn, who does try to solve it in a creative way again: "Max Emilian Verstappen. There were three names!" When asked to make a better attempt than listing Verstappen's three names, he comes up with a top three after all: "Max, Fernando and Yuki (Tsunoda)."

Verstappen, like all other drivers, is not allowed to name himself, coming up with none. "I don’t know to be honest. Like George said, it’s impossible to actually fully know because you can only compare to your team-mate, and the other cars you don’t know how the performance actually is so I don’t know. There are a lot of good drivers on this grid who all deserve to be in that top three. so I don’t know."

Of course, Verstappen is also asked if he is a second faster this year than three years ago, and then Verstappen laughs: "Absolutely." After Verstappen, it is the turn of Oscar Piastri, who opts for the same three drivers as De Vries.