With eleven penalty points on his license, a suspension looms over reigning world champion Max Verstappen like the sword of Damocles. He has no intention of altering his driving style, but Martin Brundle has his own thoughts on the matter and sees this as an opportunity for the McLarens to strike mercilessly.
With 11 penalty points on his license, Max Verstappen must seriously fear a suspension. If he receives one more penalty point in Canada or Austria, he will automatically be sidelined for one race, which could have significant implications for the championship battle.
Martin Brundle senses the danger. “Max is an aggressive driver. He has been since he started in Formula 1 and that’s how he operates,” the Brit tells Sky Sports F1. “You can’t just pick and choose the things you like about an athlete. He won the last four world titles and would say, ‘Tell me exactly what part is completely wrong.’ That’s how he is. He has such great car control, he can place his car wherever he wants, and he knows the rules.”
Applying Pressure
The former Formula 1 driver even sees the situation as an opportunity for Verstappen’s rivals to turn the championship around. “If I were a driver for Mercedes, Ferrari, and especially McLaren, I would try to put pressure on Verstappen to pick up those extra (penalty) points, because I think he unconsciously knows he needs to be a bit more cautious.”
The reigning world champion himself left no doubt that he will not change his way of racing. “I’m here to race. And I will race hard, in a way that I think I should race. I’m not here to get a suspension, but I’m also not going to race in a different way,” Verstappen declared emphatically to the media present at the media day in Montreal. “For you, it (a looming suspension) might remain a story, for me it doesn’t,” he added.
