Red Bull team thinks Verstappen vs Hamilton title chances are 50-50
Sep.27 - Max Verstappen's sensational run from last on the grid to second at the chequered flag is akin to "victory" for the Dutchman and Red Bull.
That was the view of delighted team boss Christian Horner late on Sunday, even though Verstappen's championship challenger Lewis Hamilton won and recaptured the title lead by 2 points.
Given Mercedes' superiority at Sochi, Red Bull had expected Hamilton's victory but not the success of Verstappen's quest through the pack in a thrilling Russian GP.
"There are no more circuits like Monza and Sochi where Mercedes has the upper hand now," Horner said.
"They won in Turkey last year but we were both strong in Austin. And then we are always stronger at altitude in Mexico and Brazil.
"Qatar and Saudi Arabia we aren't sure about yet and then there's Abu Dhabi. So I'd say it's about 50-50 with the remaining tracks."
Hamilton was also lucky in the dying laps of Sunday's race with race leader Lando Norris and McLaren's bad strategy call, with Dutch F1 GP boss Jan Lammers calling it "a gift from heaven" for the Mercedes driver.
Verstappen's race even threatened to overshadow Hamilton's incredible milestone of 100 grand prix wins, Lammers insisted.
"I looked at the list after the race," the Dutchman told NOS. "Michael Schumacher has 91, Hamilton has 100 now but Max is already 17th overall, which is pretty amazing.
"But this century is really great for Hamilton," Lammers acknowledged.
Former Red Bull driver Robert Doornbos agrees that Verstappen's result on Sunday even overshadowed the unprecedented 100th win from Hamilton's perspective.
"He crossed the line and you then see him looking straight away to the right, because there's a really big screen there," he told Ziggo Sport.
"He just wanted to know where Max was straight away. He'll think he should have punched a bigger hole in it today but Max had an even better Sunday afternoon," Doornbos added.
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Yes, the pit building has screens + three separate ones past it, but one can't really read the graphs driving by at those speeds. Furthermore, the live footage didn't immediately switch to Max after timing line crossing.
Re remaining events: US GP can still face cancellation because of Austin's ICU situation, while I'm skeptical about Red List countries, especially Brazil, which could force a whole team withdrawal for Force Majeure and consequently even impact the following race.
Nah, 70% in MV favour, quite simply he has the best car so it's his for the taking.
And he's the best all round driver
Verstappen has the honor of having the most wins (17) without winning a championship title now. The higher amount of races in current seasons is for sure a big disadvantage for Verstappen. Back in the day Hakkinen only needed 20 wins to score 2 titles!
I think the guy who keeps the coolest these last races, will win the championship. Verstappen has nothing to lose and is only 23. Hamilton was 23 when he started his F1 career! Hamilton is also showing cracks of pressure this year. Compared to previous seasons he made a lot of errors this year. It might be the last chance for Hamilton to even win a championship.
It would be great if Verstappen would win and Hamilton won't win his 8th and stays on par with Schumacher. Hamilton shown he is already a much better driver than Schumacher. If he had less bad luck in 2007 & 2016, he already would have 9 titles.
VER turns 24 on Thursday, and HAM was 22 when he debuted, but I hope the latter wins this season's WDC merely so he'd become the outright WDC win leader, given how close he is already.
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