Max Verstappen reckons it is unrealistic that he wins F1 title in Singapore GP, as Lewis Hamilton reckons winning early is never a good thing.
With the Singapore GP this weekend, Red Bull’s Verstappen has a golden chance to seal his second title albeit with five races to spare after this. He is odds on to win the title of course and if it doesn’t happen at Marina Bay, it will perhaps be Japan, which he himself has a preference for.
“It’s a bit unrealistic for it to happen,” said Verstappen. “So I don’t really think about it. It’s quite a long shot. And I just want to enjoy the weekend. And of course try to win it. I think Japan is nicer, I’m really excited to go back there. It’s been a while. It’s an amazing track. And for me anyway has quite special memories”.
“The first time I drove a Formula One car was there in FP1, and I will always remember that. And besides that, yes, it is always a kind of a home GP with Honda,” summed up Verstappen. In some respects, it is a shame that Red Bull and Verstappen have clearly monopolised the championship over the last few races.
This of course is in comparison to last year’s monumental battle between Verstappen and Hamilton which literally went down to the last lap. The latter himself has claimed some of his titles early in the past. For this season of course, Mercedes have not been on the pace which allows the Brit to have a better opinion on winning a title with races to spare.
Like he felt for himself in the past, Hamilton reckons sealing the title early is never good from fan point of view. He always liked down to the wire thing which he had against Felipe Massa. “From my point of view, I’m not really thinking much about it,” he said. “Yeah, definitely, I feel for the fans because that’s for everyone and even for us, last year, going right down to the wire, that was intense for everybody and so it’s never great when the season finishes early, even when I’ve experienced having it finish early, in places like Mexico”.
“For you as the one individual it’s great, but for the actual sport is not spectacular. So I’m really grateful to have had it like 2008, right down to the last 17 seconds, and obviously last year pretty much the same thing. So yeah, let’s hope for the future that it’s a bit better. For me, I’m really still enjoying the…”
“We’ve still got six races, I’m still enjoying the challenge and proud of the strength and the growth within our team, in terms of the relationships, in terms of our focus, just seeing how hard everyone works in a team is, for me, the most inspiring thing. They’ve gone from the racetrack the next… fly over Sunday night, they’re in in the office on Monday, trying to come up with solutions, trying to crack the code and that’s really impressive because it’s just relentless, the season”.
“I know everyone – I’m sure all of you as well – is looking forward to the break, so I hope everyone’s planning ahead to maximise and make it efficient,” summed up Hamilton. Verstappen really has shone massively this year. Even after the shaky start, they bounced back and quite literally it was with a vengeance.
Here’s what some of his F1 rivals think about the situation:
Mick Schumacher: “Well, without going in too much, I think what he’s done was… well, it’s quite impressive. He’s had a tough start to the season but then turned it around pretty well with Red Bull and definitely it seems to work out for them.”
Esteban Ocon: “Yeah, very, very impressive season, especially I think the way… you know when Max was starting in the back and just flying through the field I think this has been quite impressive in terms of just like first lap knowing where to place the car and all that. I think he’s been on top of his game this year so once he wins the title congratulations.”
Alex Albon: “Yeah, most probably he would also want us to wait ‘till he wins it if we comment about it, but no, it’s obviously very, very impressive and I think also you have to give credit to Red Bull as well. I think they’ve been on been upgrading their car quite a lot through the year and they seem to have made a step and I don’t want to say that they’re pulling away from the others, but it seems like they’re clearly doing a very good job.”
Lando Norris: “Yeah, similar. Well done to him. He’s obviously done an incredible job. The team have given him a very good car in order to do so. But yeah, I think everyone kind of expected it as well, especially after last year. You see the battles that they have and how tough it is to produce a good car and to go out and produce these results every single weekend, especially when he starts last and still wins quite easily. It’s even good to watch when you’re when in the car yourself. Well done to all of them, for after the weekend.”
Here’s the title combination:
| Verstappen | Leclerc | Perez |
|---|---|---|
| 1st | 9th or lower | 4th or lower without FL / 5th or lower with FL |
| 1st (with FL) | 8th or lower | 4th or lower |
Here’s all the details on F1 Singapore GP