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Mika Hakkinen has picked Lewis Hamilton and Lando Norris as the two drivers who could potentially beat Max Verstappen at the 2023 F1 Brazilian GP.
Verstappen has been in the form of his life in the last few years. He's broken records every season and even in the last race in Mexico, he broke his own record of the most wins in a season. He has 16 wins this year, three better than the most by any driver not named Max Verstappen.
In his pre-race blog for Unibet, Mika Hakkinen praised Verstappen for the kind of run he's been on this season. The Finnish driver also felt that Lewis Hamilton and Lando Norris are the only two drivers on the grid that could beat the Red Bull driver.
Hakkinen wrote:
"In my opinion, there are two drivers who can stop Max Verstappen from winning the Brazilian Grand Prix this weekend – Lewis Hamilton or Lando Norris. Max is going for win number 17 this season but the way Lewis and Lando are driving at the moment I think it’s possible they could cause problems for Red Bull."
He added:
"I thought both of them drove brilliantly in Mexico, there is a real fire in their driving, and if they can continue that momentum into Interlagos anything can happen."
Incredible that Max Verstappen has won 16 races: Mika Hakkinen
Mika Hakkinen believes that Max Verstappen winning 16 races in 2023 is remarkable. The former McLaren driver also referred to the fact that during his time, the entire season used to have only 16 races.
Talking about the Verstappen's achievement, Hakinnen said:
"It’s incredible to think that Max has won 16 races – the total number of races which used to make up the entire World Championship back when I was winning my two titles!"
He added:
"It does not matter whether Max is on pole or, as we saw in Mexico, a lower grid position. The car has the performance to win every time and he knows how to extract it."
Verstappen will be starting the race in pole position on Sunday and should be the favorite to win. Lando Norris could be his primary challenger, but he will start the race in P6 and has plenty of ground to make up to catch the Dutchman.
