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On June 23, Max Verstappen and Red Bull took a huge stride towards further domination of F1. The Dutchman’s success in the Aramco Gran Premio De Espana in Barcelona was his seventh of the season in just ten rounds. After that race, Verstappen found himself 69 points clear of Briton Lando Norris, the man he finished directly ahead of in Catalunya.
But if at that stage it looked like Verstappen was on a clear path towards a fourth consecutive World Drivers’ Championship, and Red Bull a third consecutive World Constructors’ Championship, now things seem far less certain.
It was Norris’ belligerent drive in Barcelona that helped announce the McLaren man as a serious potential challenger for the Championship, and indeed that has borne out.
Norris may still find himself 70 points behind the reigning world champion, but Verstappen has now not won a race since that victory in Barcelona and has only finished on the podium twice in five subsequent races.
Where the odds were well and truly on the Dutchman securing another World crown, now things are nowhere near as certain.
It was only a matter of weeks ago that the lines on Verstappen claiming another World Drivers’ Championship were as good as closed. But recent events on and off the track mean Canadian sports betting sites are rethinking their numbers. The Red Bull team must be getting nervous after Norris secured a sensational but also wholly convincing victory in the Dutch Grand Prix, Verstappen’s home track of course. Verstappen admitted as much after the race.
“This weekend was just a bad weekend in general,” Verstappen told the media. “So, we need to understand that. But the last few races haven’t really been fantastic. So that, I think in a sense, was already a bit alarming.”
Alarming is a word that Red Bull advisor Helmut Marko also used in the wake of Norris’ storming victory at Zandvoort. The sheer size of the winning margin – 23 seconds – seemed to be confirmation to the Red Bull motorsport organization that the team faced a real battle for the remainder of the F1 season.
Verstappen enjoyed the near month-long summer break a healthy 78 points ahead of his British rival. And Norris had only secured one win in the campaign so far – a maiden F1 victory coming…
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