Red Bull advisor Dr. Helmut Marko is continuing to be impressed by reigning World Champion Max Verstappen, who is in a complete league of his own.
The Dutchman leads the Drivers’ Championship by 125 points and has the chance to match Sebastian Vettel’s record for nine consecutive wins next weekend, at the Dutch Grand Prix.
Nobody has come close to matching the 25-year-old over a run of races, with Sergio Perez having defeated Verstappen just twice.
His consistent killer speed is simply unrivalled; however, Verstappen is continuing to improve, according to Marko.
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Marko revealed after the Belgian Grand Prix – which Verstappen won – that the Red Bull driver has learned to watch the TV screens whilst racing, helping him “read the races better”.
“He’s learned to read the races better,” Marko told Motorsport-Magazin.
“He also looks at the television screens, and that is why he worried about the fastest lap [in Spa], because he saw that Lewis Hamilton could make a free pit stop, with a gap of 25 seconds behind him.”
Marko is also impressed at how Verstappen is able to talk to the team at any part of any circuit, no matter how fast the section is.
“He sees all this and it shows how much overcapacity he has,” Marko added.
“He can also talk on the on-board radio during the races even in the fast corners.”
Verstappen’s radio conversations have caused some controversy though, with many having criticised the way he talks to his race engineer.
Verstappen and his race engineer appeared to talk back at one another several times, something which saw some label the Dutchman as ‘rude’.
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The championship leader has since insisted though, that it’s just how himself and his race engineer work, with the pair knowing each other “very well”.
“That’s how we operate,” Verstappen told Sky Sports F1. “I think we know each other very well from all the years we have been working together.
“The car has been performing really well. Of course they want to keep it under control, but I’m the one in the car feeling how the tyres are behaving.
“They have the numbers but it’s still also a feeling thing. As long as they tell me from their side what they’re seeing then I can make my mind up of how to do it in terms of how to push it out.”