David Coulthard believes Max Verstappen solely wants a considerable improve to his Pink Bull System 1 automobile to reignite his bid for the 2025 drivers’ title.
Verstappen was all the time an outdoor contender for this 12 months’s championship, with the opening races of the season making it clear that Pink Bull had fallen additional behind its direct rivals.
However his title hopes suffered additional setbacks with a retirement in Austria and a fifth-place end at Silverstone, leaving him 69 factors adrift of championship chief Oscar Piastri on the midway mark of the season.
Coulthard conceded that Verstappen’s probabilities of successful a fifth straight F1 crown look troublesome as issues stand, given the mounting deficit Pink Bull faces to McLaren.
David Coulthard will not “rule out” Max Verstappen
Nonetheless, he believes the Dutchman can nonetheless stage an upset on Piastri and Lando Norris if Pink Bull can ship him a automobile that’s extra constant and simpler to drive within the the rest of the season.
“You possibly can’t rule Max out,” Coulthard advised the official F1 web site. “I feel for the championship, everyone knows it’s going to take an improve to unlock some efficiency.
“The place Pink Bull are proper now, and in the event that they had been frozen, it’s troublesome to think about that the second half of the season circuits are all of the sudden going to go well with the Pink Bull higher than the primary half.
“It’ll take an improve from Pink Bull to provide him the consistency. Are they able to doing it? Completely. Have they accomplished it earlier than? Sure. Is Max distinctive? Completely.”
David Coulthard on Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri’s rivalry
Whereas Verstappen has scored two against-the-odds wins to date, a lot of the season has been dominated by McLaren duo Piastri and Norris.
Though Piastri is the much less skilled of the 2, he leads the championship by eight factors going into this weekend’s Belgian Grand Prix, backed by wins in China, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, Miami and Spain.
Norris, alternatively, has made pricey errors at crucial occasions this 12 months, though back-to-back victories in Austria and Britain have proven he’s able to mounting a fightback.
Coulthard expects an in depth contest between the McLaren pair this 12 months, likening their rivalry to Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton’s epic duel within the 2021 season.
“If it was half a World Championship, Oscar’s gained,” stated Coulthard.
“I don’t assume anybody may say he hasn’t deserved to be main – he was main earlier than [the McLarens] got here collectively in Canada. But when Lando turns it round within the second half of the season, he’s doing it in opposition to somebody that’s a proficient third 12 months F1 driver.
“It’s a bit like 2021, the place some persons are nonetheless so vocal about what occurred – just one driver may win. Each Max and Lewis drove like World Champions that 12 months, however solely certainly one of them may have the title.”
He added: “This is also their solely likelihood to win a world title; we don’t know what 2026 brings, we don’t know what the longer term is, so that you’ve obtained to grab the second.
“That’s why I’m actually impressed with how Oscar has stepped up this 12 months. However Lando’s response during the last two races is exhibiting his high quality as effectively. I feel it’s going to be a kind of issues the place each of them deserve it, however just one can get it.”
