
Images © Red Bull/Mercedes/XPB Images
Max Verstappen’s Monaco Grand Prix victory launches the biggest challenge against reigning world champion Lewis Hamilton and Mercedes.
Hamilton showed his domination in the first four rounds of the 2021 F1 world championship. But last race weekend at Monaco, the seven-time world champion and squad entirely failed. After the Monaco top podium, the Dutchman leading the drivers’ title and his team Red Bull is currently top in the championship.
In an interview with PlanetF1 2009 F1 World Champion, Jenson Button expressed his comments regarding the 2021 championship battle. “Hamilton has won the last couple of races, but Verstappen has been his biggest opponent, and he’s been close to him. I do think they [Red Bull Racing] can challenge him, but it literally needs to be the perfect season for Red Bull, it really does.”
“It has. I kind of feel for Max a little bit and Red Bull, there have been a couple of opportunities where they’ve kind of thrown away big points, you know, he’s just put a wheel a centimeter over the line and lost a qualifying lap or lost a position in Bahrain. Button said to PlanetF1
“But those are the rules, you’ve got to stay within the white lines and they’ve just pushed it a bit too far. But I’m hoping it’s going to be a close season, obviously Lewis has won the last couple but Max has been his biggest competitor and he’s been close to him. I do think they can challenge him, but it literally needs to be the perfect season for Red Bull, it really does.
“To go up against Lewis and Mercedes, the powerhouse, they’ve been around for a long time fighting for championships, they don’t really put a foot wrong, so it’s tough for them, but if anyone can do it, Red Bull and Max can do it.”
Red Bull Motorsport advisor Helmut Marko believes that following the dominant victory at Monaco GP, Max has reached “a different level of maturity”.
“He has certainly reached a different level of maturity, we kept him on his toes with fuel modes and such. He had to understand quite a lot. Marko told Sky Germany
“When he started asking who had the fastest lap and with what time, we immediately blocked him and told him: ‘Forget all that!'”
“We haven’t had a podium here yet [with Max], although we’ve had a car that can win twice – Ricciardo [Who currently racing for McLaren Racing] proved that, after all,” Marko added.
“I think that gives him another boost of relief. It should make his performances even more confident and controlled. That was also very, very important for the future.”