Why Verstappen may need to play the long game...

 
This weekend’s Spanish Grand Prix marks a welcome return to closer racing, thanks to the Barcelona circuit offering more overtaking opportunities than the tight and twisty streets of Monte Carlo. 

Ahead of the Spanish round of the World Championship, reigning World Champion Max Verstappen has admitted that he doesn’t really feel like he’s in this year’s title fight, largely due to the dominance of the McLaren duo, Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri.  They already have six wins between them this season. 

 Verstappen might do well to remember a key chapter in Formula 1 history: back in 1986, Williams was the dominant force. The Oxfordshire-based team won 9 of the season’s 16 races, yet it was McLaren’s Alain Prost who clinched the Drivers' Championship, despite only winning four Grands Prix. The reason? Williams teammates Nelson Piquet and Nigel Mansell were locked in an intense intra-team rivalry, taking points off each other and ultimately allowing Prost to snatch the title by just two points. 

The Piquet-Mansell rivalry became the stuff of legend, something co-founder and technical director Patrick Head often referenced when reflecting on how the team lost the drivers’ championship that year. With Norris and Piastri now fighting each other for wins, Verstappen could capitalise in a similar way - key victories when McLaren’s own rivalry works against them. 

The deficiencies of this years Red Bull car are fairly well understood: the car struggles on street circuits with slow corners, bumps, and high curbs. But at traditional, flowing road circuits like Barcelona, with its mix of medium and high-speed corners, Verstappen cannot be discounted.  He took an impressive victory here last year. 

One thing is certain: the Dutchman won’t approach any Grand Prix with anything less than 100% commitment. While he may not be able to match the raw pace of the McLarens every weekend, his consistency could prove to be the deciding factor in what’s shaping up to be one of the most unpredictable title fights in years.