RaceFans Round-up: Larson “on the same level” as Verstappen

In brief

Larson “already towards the top”

Alexander Rossi, who is Larson’s team mate for this weekend’s Indianapolis 500 where the NASCAR champion is making a one-off appearance, has been deeply impressed by his performance on his debut in the series.

“I think he’s already towards the top, so I don’t know,” Rossi told the Associated Press. “Put him at the top? Like, he’s ‘The Man.’”

Larson won the NASCAR Cup title for Hendrick in 2021 after being dropped by Ganassi for using a racial slur. He is leading the standings after 13 of 36 races and will start Sunday’s Indy 500 one place behind Rossi in fifth, before returning to NASCAR to race at Charlotte later the same day.

Asked whether Larson is as good as Verstappen, Rossi answered: “I would say they’re on the same level, which is like, yeah, that’s a pretty big deal.” Rossi raced in F1 during Verstappen’s first season with Toro Rosso (now RB) in 2015.

Haas customises car for Monaco

Haas team principal Ayao Komatsu is hopeful of a better performance by the team in Monaco this year as it has done more work than usual to prefer for the demands of the uniquely high-downforce, low-speed circuit.

“I’m looking forward to Monaco because this year the team has worked pretty well in the wind tunnel to come up with the Monaco downforce level required, which is different from previous years,” he said. “In terms of consistency with the car, we seem to have better consistency, and obviously, in Monaco drivers need lots of confidence, they need to trust the car.

“One thing that remains to be seen is the balance of the car; in Monaco you can have too much understeer and then you won’t go quick, so that’s one of the issues with this year’s car, I think. We’re aware of it so we’ll try to get that balance right, and if we can do that, it might be a pretty interesting weekend.”

Ocon not expecting another podium

Esteban Ocon played down hopes of repeating his podium finish at last year’s Monaco Grand Prix. Alpine has only scored a single point so far this year, which he took in China.

“Realistically, I do not think we can repeat the performance from last year, but we will give it our all to achieve the best result this weekend,” he said.

“Monaco is a track where the driver can really make…