Mercedes team boss Toto Wolff believes that Max Verstappen holds a significant ‘psychological advantage’ in the title race against the two McLaren drivers. The Austrian has firsthand experience with two teammates vying for the title – between 2013 and 2016, Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg, as Mercedes teammates, also battled for the world title. Therefore, Wolff knows that the ‘underdog’ has a slight psychological edge over the drivers at the top of the standings.
Max Verstappen, with his three victories in the last four Grands Prix, has significantly closed the gap on the two McLaren drivers in the championship. The difference with leader Oscar Piastri is only forty points after the race in Austin, while Lando Norris only has a lead of 26 championship points. The Dutchman is thus fully back in the title race, and according to Toto Wolff, he also has a huge advantage over his two Papaya competitors.
‘Psychological Advantage’
“I’ve been in a similar situation with two drivers fighting for the championship,” the Mercedes team boss explains in Austin. “And the threat of a third driver coming back was also Max, I believe, and then it was Sebastian (Vettel, ed.). So the underdog always has a psychological advantage because of the probability. The chance of a fifth world title for Max is not very high. But one dropout can change everything.”
According to Wolff, this influences the driving of the McLaren drivers in particular. “How aggressive can you actually be when overtaking? You saw in Austin with Lando that he did make an overtaking move at the end, but it was sometimes difficult for him to decide whether or not to stick the nose of his car in somewhere.” Norris was in Austin for the majority of the race involved in a battle for second place with Charles Leclerc. Only five laps from the end of the race did the Brit finally overtake the Monegasque.
