Verstappen has risen to become the all-conquering force of Formula 1 off the back of his maiden World Championship in 2021, the Red Bull driver looking to secure his fourth title in succession in F1 2024.
The Dutchman is being forced to fight off sterner competition this time around though as he chases title number four, Ferrari having claimed two wins so far in F1 2024, plus one for McLaren’s Lando Norris, while Mercedes joined the conversation in Canada as George Russell contended for the win.
And during a conversation with DAZN, Verstappen opened an envelope to reveal a question about which F1 driver he believes could rise to title glory.
Verstappen read out: “Bet a dinner that this driver will be champion. His name is…”
After saying “you can bet on a few I think”, Verstappen was told by the interviewer that he may pick “only one”.
Verstappen therefore went with Ferrari driver Leclerc, who claimed his first victory of the F1 2024 campaign on home soil in Monaco and sits P2 in the Drivers’ Championship, 56 points behind Verstappen.
“Only one, hmm… Charles, yeah. But I can pick many,” said Verstappen.
On that note, Verstappen was invited to make another pick. He would go with Norris, who claimed his first Formula 1 victory in Miami and pushed Verstappen hard for the win in Imola and Montreal.
“Lando,” Verstappen declared.
Despite the emergence of drivers like Leclerc and Norris as major threats in F1 2024, Verstappen has warned that “big” gains are up for grabs for Red Bull, as soon as they address the RB20’s struggles over the kerbs, which were a particular hindrance in Monaco.
“We’re struggling a lot with the kerbing and the bumps,” said Verstappen. “So we definitely have an area we can work on and definitely improve the car by quite a big margin if we get that under control.
“I really think that we can solve this without influencing any other part of the car.
“We know that this is a weakness and I also know that we are flat-out working on it to try and fix it, because I really feel like it’s quite a big performance limitation for us at the moment.”
Next up is the Spanish Grand Prix, where Verstappen will look to make it three victories in a row at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya.
