max verstappen na de britse kwalificatie

Is Verstappen's deficit misleading? ‘He could easily have competed’

09:48, 15 Jul

Updated: 12:55, 15 Jul

byHidde Korte

After the British Grand Prix, the Drivers' Championship stayed very much the same. Oscar Piastri saw his lead slightly diminish after Lando Norris took victory. Max Verstappen finished fifth, but his title chances don't seem as far off as the standings suggest.

During the F1 Nation podcast, former F1 driver Jolyon Palmer discussed Verstappen's deficit. He suggested that Verstappen's title chances have been hampered by a series of misfortunes. "Max could easily have still been in contention for the title, but the last few races have caused him to not be in it, if you look at the points he missed out on due to bad luck.

''There's the crash in Austria, plus an unlucky quali........"

Max Verstappen after the GP of Silverstone, photo: Red Bull Contentpool

Verstappen would be breathing down McLaren's neck

With those missed points, Verstappen would have been significantly closer to McLaren, and all cards would still be on the table. "If those things hadn't happened, Max would have an additional 44 points, and he would still be within one race distance or on equal footing with the McLarens."

"So I feel like he's just had a lot of bad luck in the past races to be so far behind now. But it does mean that McLaren is now really in a direct fight. For me, the race in China was a turning point: there, Oscar managed to beat Lando, and since then, we see that Lando is having issues with braking and struggling to really connect with the car.''