"You don't know what's hanging over your head" - Calling Max Verstappen title-favorite is 'too early', says ex-F1 driver

Verstappen at F1 Grand Prix of Spain
Verstappen at F1 Grand Prix of Spain

Max Verstappen bagged his third consecutive victory at the Spanish GP. He has shown strong form as he overturned a deficit of more than 40 points and turned it into a lead of six points. Furthermore, with the Red Bull RB18 looking more and more like the car to have, the momentum has definitely been on the Dutchman's side.

Does this make Max Verstappen the title favorite, however? Former F1 driver Jan Lammers disagrees as he points out that we still have a long season ahead of us and reliability issues are a big concern for many teams on the grid right now.

He said:

“No, no. That is still too early. There are still too many races to go and there is still a lot going on: you have seen how Mercedes can suddenly participate. You have seen that both Mercedes, Ferrari and Red Bull also have reliability issues. So no, there is still too much going on. Now something to say about that. I think that as a team, Max [Verstappen] then, you just have to squeeze your hands with all the points you can score. You don’t know what’s hanging over your head for the rest of the season.”

The 2022 F1 season consists of 22 races, out of which 16 still remain.


Max Verstappen's spin down to the gust of wind pushing the car over the limit

Lammers put Max Verstappen going off the track in the Spanish GP down to him already driving the car on the limit and the gust of wind just pushing it over the edge.

He said:

“That can just happen. These drivers are of course hired to drive those cars on the limit. If you then drive on the limit, such a gust of wind can of course push that car just over the limit. In this case, that was just in a place where you actually go off. Yes, that’s part of the game. But what goes around, comes around . It can happen to anyone. They have been far from flawless. So no, a lot is going to happen this season.”

Max Verstappen heads to the Monaco GP with a six-point lead in the 2022 Driver Standings. The Red Bull driver will be looking to make the most of the weekend as his championship rival Charles Leclerc has notoriously not had a clean weekend at Monaco ever since his debut in F1.

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Edited by Anmol Gandhi
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