The battle between Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen is getting fierce, however, experts believe that Mercedes have an upper hand.
Former F1 driver and three-time world champion Jackie Stewart believes that reliability will ultimately decide who wins the 2021 championship.
He praised both, Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen, for performing magnificently well in the 2021 season so far. However, he reckons whoever has the fewest mechanical failures will take the title.
With five more races to go, Red Bull’s Max Verstappen is already leading the standings after winning the race at COTA. He dominates the British racing driver by 12 points.
🚀 @LewisHamilton‘s brilliant getaway, to snatch first place at Turn 1…
It was the start of a tense, race-long duel for the win with Max Verstappen!#USGP 🇺🇸 #F1 pic.twitter.com/uCHNU7ANqr
— Formula 1 (@F1) October 25, 2021
Jackie Stewart, nicknamed ‘Flying Scot’, believes that the title can go to either of the drivers. He said, “I think in the end, because of the experience that the Mercedes team have, as well as the driver, they probably have the best chance to do it.”
“But I think both of them are perhaps overdriving a little bit. As we’ve seen, at least on two occasions. I hope that it is being recognised in the most positive way,” he further added.
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Max Verstappen must win the upcoming two races
The Flying Scot drew on his experience and said, “I wouldn’t like to see anything nasty happening, however, motor racing today is so safe. The accident that happened at Silverstone, in my day, Verstappen would have died.”
“Sometimes the drivers are taking too much liberty. That shouldn’t be taken, so we’ve got to be careful with this. Don’t get too carried away by needing to win. To finish first, first, you must finish. It’s going to end up with who is going to have the least mechanical failures because both of them are driving magnificently well.”
Recently, Red Bull’s advisor, Helmut Marko said that even though Verstappen sits atop the standings, the team will only feel confident about winning the title if they win the upcoming in Mexico and Brazil.
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