Anti-Verstappen in Brazil? Hakkinen bets on Norris and Hamilton
“I don’t know if I’ll be able to win.” On the eve of the Brazilian Grand Prix Max Verstappen he underlined that – also mindful of what happened in 2022 – Red Bull certainly showed up at Interlagos with the underdogs, but not with such an advantage as to consider winning victory number 19 of the season ‘easy’.
The Red Bull driver started the weekend in the best way possible taking pole position at the end of a truly hard-fought session characterized by balance between Red Bull, McLaren, Ferrari and Mercedes until the worsening of the weather conditions which transformed Q3 into a sort of roulette which in any case saw Verstappen and Leclerc stand out, who will take their seats in the front row tomorrow at 6pm Italian time when the Grand Prix gets underway.
Approaching the green and gold weekend, Mika Hakkinen had focused on two other drivers as potential bogeymen for Verstappen at the Interlagos weekend: “In my opinion there are two drivers who can ‘stop’ Verstappen in Brazil – the opinion of the two-time world champion expressed on the portal Unibet for which the Finn is a columnist regarding F1 – Lando Norris and Lewis Hamilton. In Mexico they both drove with fire inside and if they bring the same energy to this weekend too, then anything could happen in Interlagos.”
The verdict of yesterday’s Qualifying put a ‘buffer’ between Verstappen and the two drivers indicated by Mika Hakkinen. The Aston Martins of Lance Stroll and Fernando Alonso, in fact, surprisingly colonized the second row. Lewis Hamilton set the fifth fastest time, Lando Norris did not go beyond sixth, but the penalty given to George Russell for impeding in the pit lane – the former Williams driver was dropped two positions – he promoted the McLaren driver to the third row. Today in the Sprint, with a starting grid still to be defined, we will be able to collect the first signs of competitiveness on the race pace in view of tomorrow’s race. In terms of pace, the Mercedes seem truly competitive, almost at Verstappen’s level judging by what emerged from Free Practice.
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