“It’s still very early”– Sebastian Vettel thinks peace of mind should be more important than points lead for Max Verstappen

“It’s still very early”– Sebastian Vettel thinks that Max Verstappen at this stage should keep his peace of mind instead of points lead to worry.

For the first time in his career, Max Verstappen is leading the drivers’ championship table, and he would be under pressure to outperform Lewis Hamilton to maintain that lead.

However, Sebastian Vettel advises him not to think about that at this stage of this season and keep his peace of mind by knowing that he is in contention for the title and there are several other races to recover from here.

“I don’t think it [leading the championship] makes a big difference at this stage,” said four-time champion Vettel. “I think if you are in contention, that’s the main thing that gives you peace of mind.”

“You know that you’ve got a good car, you’ve got a good team around you and you can get the job done. But, I think obviously, if you’re ahead, you want to make sure you finish in front of whoever’s behind you and increase the gap.”

“But, like I said, it’s still very early, it’s only like five races. So we still have a lot of races to come, and the main thing is that you’re there or thereabouts.”

Whose advice could be more valuable than Vettel, who has won four world titles, and would be citing his experience from his title win over Fernando Alonso with a marginal difference in 2012.

A points lead right now is useless.

Apart from Vettel, another world champion and right now contender for the 2021 title, Lewis Hamilton also opines the same and believes that a points lead right now means nothing.

“I am still hunting, you are hunting the whole year whether you are ahead, or if you are behind, so it doesn’t really feel any different for me,” he said ahead of the Baku GP.

“We are all hunting that same goal, right? Winning races and winning championships. So, I think we are all hunters.”

About the author

Tanish Chachra

Tanish Chachra is the Motorsport editor at The SportsRush. He saw his first race when F1 visited India in 2011, and since then, his romance with the sport has been seasonal until he took up this role in 2020. Reigniting F1's coverage on this site, Tanish has fallen in love with the sport all over again. He loves Kimi Raikkonen and sees a future world champion in Oscar Piastri. Away from us, he loves to snuggle inside his books.

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