On The Edge Of Greatness

Right from the moment when Red Bull Racing dropped visuals of the special white livery to honour the final year of their partnership with Honda, they seemed geared for something special. And it wasn’t the Yuki Tsunoda-promotion! That went to plan for sure, as the young Japanese driver finished ahead of the driver he replaced, earning himself the Driver Of The Day award for his efforts.

The passionate Japanese F1 fanbase definitely played a crucial role in the outcome of the DOTD award, but towards the closing laps of Suzuka one can’t help but feel that they may have been tempted to vote for Verstappen instead! The Dutch champion who remains undefeated this decade proved exactly why he’s touted to be a great. The in-form team is McLaren. Their car is better balanced than the rest and they’ve won the opening two rounds in commanding fashion. But on Qualifying Saturday, Verstappen pushed his RB21 to the limit so many times that he believed he “almost crashed!”  What was special with the way he stole Pole Position from the McLaren duo was that he still hadn’t perfected the car set-up and yet overcame a lot of understeer to deliver that magical lap time!

The 2025 cars are difficult to follow and even more difficult to overtake in a circuit like Suzuka where there is only one drag reduction zone. Being on pole meant being in clean air with a clear sight of victory! The MCL39s piloted by Championship leader Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri were the superior cars, but Verstappen kept them behind on Sunday with a phenomenal drive. It was the kind of drive that separated the greats from the good. His consistent race pace forced McLaren to get into team discussions on swapping the order of their cars to make an impact. Or accept defeat! The Orange-uniformed pit wall played safe and executed a non-impactful strategy even though they’re the defending team champions and currently lead both championships!

When a racing driver not only controls his own pace out front, but leaves rivals doubting their own decisions it means he’s operating in another zone. Another level. Max has found the psychological edge and the performance edge over his rivals. If McLaren don't counter quickly, there could be more greatness from him this weekend in Bahrain!

Round 4 | Bahrain | Sunday, 13th April 20:30 | F1TV & FanCode App