Red Bull driver Max Verstappen has yet again been dominant for his team and leads the drivers’ standings by a considerable margin after the first nine races.
In many ways, he has redefined the meaning of dominance after claiming his seventh GP win in Austria.
Verstappen was kept out on the track during the Virtual Safety Car, with Red Bull opting to pit him a few laps later and give him hard tyres to battle it out against the Ferrari duo of Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz.
Despite losing the lead, Verstappen came back from behind to convincingly speed ahead of Leclerc.
His lead was so massive that he pitted once more to get an additional chance of notching the fastest lap, which he duly did and still won the race with over 5 seconds to spare.
In a video that has since split fans over Verstappen’s delusional personality, the Dutchman could be seen going over to Leclerc after the race and saying it was a close affair.
For many fans, this pointed to Verstappen’s ignorance of reality where he failed to accept just how vastly superior his RB19 is compared to any other car on the grid.
One particular Twitter user @_alyssabeth_ felt that Verstappen was happily living in his own bubble.
max saying "it was close" and charles being like "you're kidding, right?" pic.twitter.com/fMaN7oSRmC
— clara (@leclercsletters) July 2, 2023
Another user @YellowCanary_FB felt that the Dutchman was just delusional.
max saying "it was close" and charles being like "you're kidding, right?" pic.twitter.com/fMaN7oSRmC
— clara (@leclercsletters) July 2, 2023
As things stand, Red Bull looks pretty much unbeatable and unless there are some massive upgrades from their rivals, the team should be confident of picking up both the constructors’ and drivers’ championship this season.
Of the last 20 F1 races, Red Bull has won 19 of them, with a perfect record in the first 9 races this season.
Verstappen currently has 229 points in the drivers’ standings and is followed by his teammate Perez who has 148.
As far as the constructors’ championship is concerned, Red Bull is miles ahead with 377 points while Mercedes occupies second position with 178.