Max Verstappen has no rival. The Red Bull driver has dominated every race this season and has an overwhelming advantage over the rest of the drivers.
That even applies to teammate Checo Perez. Whether he starts from pole position, sixth or even further back, the Dutchman has no trouble winning.
His gap to the rest of the grid is so big that he has to find some way to entertain himself given he has so few battles on tack. With 10 laps to go at the Belgian GP he was leading by 12 seconds despite having started sixth.
It was then that Verstappen joked over the team radio in what sounded like a jab at others over his superiority.
Plenty of time, even for jokes
At one point in the race, his engineer saw signs of wear in his tires and asked Verstappen to manage them in order to make it safely to the end of the race.
The Dutchman assured that there was no problem and jokingly pointed out that he could push for a free pit stop just to practice.
“I could also push on and we do another stop?” he said. “A little bit of pit-stop training?”
Gianpiero Lambiase, or GP as Max calls him, refused to accept that idea: “No, it’s not the right time”, he answered emphatically.The driver ignored him and increased the gap to Checo Perez until he crossed the finish line 22 seconds ahead, although he did not pit.
When asked if the messages were serious or joking, Verstappen replied “50-50,” but he insisted that dialogue was an important part of their relationship.
“Yeah, I think it’s very important, the relationship with your race engineer,” he told Sky Sports.
“I find it always a really important part of your performance, and not only your race engineer but everyone close around you, your performance engineer and these kinds of things.
“Of course, over the years you build up much more of a relationship and you know each other better, so yeah, for sure, if he would be removed then that would definitely not be ideal at all.”