Max Verstappen doubles down on his bold claim that he'll dominate F1 in a McLaren

Max Verstappen is not backing down from his claim that he would dominate F1 if he had a McLaren car. The Dutch driver is off to another impressive start, as he's just one point shy of the championship leader, Lando Norris.

The gap comes across as surprising because Lando Norris has arguably the best car in McLaren at his disposal, while the Red Bull appears to be a handful. It can be argued that the point standings have been dictated by Max Verstappen's relentlessness three races into the season.

At every round, the driver doesn't leave anything on the table, and it was this ability that saw him nail qualifying in Japan and secure pole position. On Sunday, the driver managed the race well and brought the car home to win his first race of the season.

After the race, the driver was questioned by the media on what he could achieve in a McLaren, to which Verstappen claimed that he would dominate the sport. The driver said that nobody would even see him if he had Norris' or Oscar Piastri's car.

Talking to the media in Bahrain, the driver doubled down on his statement and asserted that he was asked a question and just answered it honestly. He told the media, including Sportskeeda,

“I was not joking. You thought it was a joke? No, it’s not a joke. We know how hard and how narrow our window is with the car. Then you get that question, what would you do in another car? Well, I give you an honest answer. But I also said in that same interview that, that is not going to happen anyway so there is no need to speculate about it.”

Lando Norris invites Max Verstappen to McLaren

Lando Norris has reacted to Max Verstappen's remarks, and on his part, he has invited him to drive his McLaren and see for himself how the car is. The car has been unable to hit the sweet spot at times, and often both Norris and Piastri have complained that it is very difficult to extract the best from it. Talking to the media, Norris responded to Verstappen and said,

“I don’t mind, he can say what he wants. I don’t care, honestly. Everyone can say what they want and believe what they want. I believe both Oscar [Piastri] and myself are good drivers. He is maybe better at some things but he is not better in every area."

He added,

"I have a lot of respect for Max but I also know some things are not true, he can come and test our car any day that he wants and I’ll be excited to see the disappointment on his face after he gets out.”

Both Verstappen and Norris would be on a collision path this weekend in Bahrain, and it would be interesting to see who comes out on top in the battle.