Red Bull Racing star Max Verstappen showed the rest of the Formula 1 field just how good he is on Saturday at the Austrian Grand Prix.
The Dutchman won the Sprint Race, quickly overtaking Lando Norris after briefly losing first place but Max Verstappen really showed his credentials in qualifying.
The gap Verstappen had over the rest of the grid was exceptional, especially considering a lap of the Red Bull Ring is only 64 seconds long.
However, commentating on the qualifying session on Sky Sports F1, former driver and pundit Martin Brundle noticed that the 26-year-old was getting a helping hand in the final session of qualifying.
Despite the best efforts of the other nine drivers in Q3, Norris was the only driver who could get within half a second of the triple-world champion.
Verstappen’s lap couldn’t have got off to a better start and in a head-to-head comparison with Norris’s best time, he already had a considering lead going into turn one.
That’s because he received a draft from Haas driver Nico Hulkenberg and Brundle noticed it wasn’t the first time the pair have ended up working together.
The experienced German has no connection to Red Bull and has never been Verstappen’s teammate at any point during his career.
However, it does appear that they end up on the right part of the track more often than not and while Hulkenberg will be hoping to add to his career tally of 536 points on Sunday, he’s given Verstappen the best chance possible of earning win number 62 during the Austrian Grand Prix.
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Martin Brundle notices Nico Hulkenberg helping Max Verstappen in qualifying again
Commentating on the final session of qualifying, Harry Benjamin said: “As [Max] Verstappen embarks on his first flyer of Q3.”
Martin Brundle then noticed: “And he got a lovely slipstream down the back straight from Nico Hulkenberg.
“Haven’t they got a kind of deal those two? It was Hulkenberg who helped him in Imola, wasn’t it?
“Hulkenberg drafts him down the straight and then gets out of the way because his lap is over.”
Benjamin concluded: “Yeah, those two have a history of that and Verstappen then getting a nice tow.”
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Max Verstappen upping his performance with McLaren closing the gap
Twelve months ago, McLaren delivered their first update to the car when they were midfield runners.
Since then, they’ve continued to build on that progress and now they have arguably the quickest car on the grid.
Norris and Oscar Piastri were battling during the Sprint Race and that cost them the opportunity to attack Verstappen in the way that team principal Andrea Stella probably would have liked.
However, when it came to qualifying, Verstappen showed the F1 world who the quickest driver on the grid is right now, even if he did have a little bit of a helping hand from Hulkenberg.
The pair have previously been suggested as a future Le Mans partnership and Ralf Schumacher recently said that Hulkenberg would be a better teammate for Verstappen than Sergio Perez.
Marc Priestley thinks Verstappen fired an ominous warning at Norris with his performance in qualifying.
He may be the Dutchman’s closest rival in the Drivers’ Championship, but McLaren might have to take another step forward if they want to have a chance of consistently beating Verstappen.
While things aren’t going smoothly off the track between the Verstappen clan and Red Bull, Max is showing time and again that he can put that to the back of his mind and concentrate on what’s going on in the race.
The post ‘A kind of deal’: Martin Brundle can’t believe how much help Max Verstappen is getting from 536-point driver appeared first on F1 Oversteer.
