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Dutch F1 pundit Rick Winkelman takes Max Verstappen's claim that he almost crashed while watching the Sergio Perez-Fernando Alonso battle with a grain of salt. The Red Bull driver had a dominant race in Brazil as he got a perfect start from pole position and was not usurped by anyone.
In the same race, while Verstappen was managing it at the front, teammate Sergio Perez and Aston Martin's Fernando Alonso were involved in an intense battle for a podium finish. The battle was finally won by the Spaniard as he beat the Mexican to the chequered flag by only 0.053s. Max Verstappen claimed after the race that he was intently watching the battle between the two and almost crashed into turn 4 while looking at the screens.
Dutch F1 pundit Rick Winkelman has refuted the claim as he told Motorsport.com:
“I would take that comment with a grain of salt. But it is true that those men often have time to watch on the large screens next to the track what else is happening and how special that is. At the same time, it does give the force majeure of Max again.”
With Max Verstappen already jumping ahead of Alain Prost in the number of wins column with his 52nd win, Rick felt that the driver was on his way to matching Sebastian Vettel's tally of 53 career wins in Las Vegas. He said:
“Max will win that too. Number 53,” he said. “All those records are special and he always knows how to improve them. So what he does becomes more and more special.”
Max Verstappen is not having a normal season
Speaking of Max Verstappen and the season that he's had, Rick said that the way the driver has been performing, he's making more and more exclusive records. He said:
“It’s not normal what kind of season he is having, isn’t it? This is another unique moment, I think, that we are experiencing this with all the records that Max has achieved."
He added:
“The records they are looking for are becoming increasingly exclusive and weird. Records are being sought everywhere, something that has never happened before or last happened a long time ago. Then Max manages to get that strange record again, so there is something new every week, but that’s cool.”
Verstappen has now scored 17 wins this season, a world record in its own right, and will be looking to win the last two races of the season to take this tally to 19 wins.
