NB | "Marko loves that Verstappen is so enormously hungry"

Max Verstappen got little notice of all the fuss surrounding the track limits today. The Dutchman easily won his seventh race of the season, and also took the point for the fastest lap. Behind him, there was chaos, after which the stewards were busy until late in the evening trying to figure out what would be a fair result. There will be plenty to talk about in the review with editor-in-chief Mark Hanselman.

Verstappen extends his lead again. Won't he get bored?

"I don't think so. I think the Dutchman mainly enjoys getting better and better himself, and always getting the maximum result. In the past, he has let it be known often enough that he is not at all concerned with his teammate. He looks purely at what he himself can do to get better, and even if he wins again and again, he will continue to enjoy working with race engineer Gianpiero Lambiase and his entire team in the quest for the unachievable: perfection."

"We saw that again in Austria at the end of the race, when Verstappen set his eyes on the fastest lap time. Even though he is so far ahead in the championship, if he can take an extra point himself and snatch one away from Sergio Pérez, he will never fail to do so. I also feel he has indicated within the team that, whenever possible, he always wants to go for that fastest lap. In Spain, we still heard discussions with the team about whether or not it was smart to drive another fast lap. Now the team immediately acquiesced, even though Red Bull as a team could not take any extra points by seeing Pérez's fastest time go to Verstappen. The only discussion was about whether Verstappen would make his attempt on old or new tires. Marko indicated the same after the race, and he loves that Verstappen is so enormously hungry."

As far as you are concerned, who is the driver of the day?

"The two obvious answers here are Max Verstappen and Lando Norris, who moves up to fourth place after the latest penalties. However, if you name Verstappen driver of the day today, you can do that every day of every weekend. With Norris, also remember that he had substantial upgrades that teammate Oscar Piastri does not yet have. Maybe it's a surprising choice, given that he was experiencing one of his least competitive races of the season, but I enjoy immensely how Fernando Alonso maximizes every time. Aston Martin may not have been good today, but Alonso was. He was unlucky with the early VSC, as he started with the hard tires, and Aston Martin was not competitive, but he single-handedly holds the fight for P2 in his team. The Spaniard sprinkled all sorts of trivia after the race, and he, along with Verstappen, is the only one so engaged in racing. That Aston Martin filed a protest after the race, and Alonso then took advantage and moved up to spot five is no coincidence. Alonso is just incredibly shrewd, smart, and fast."

Should Ferrari have issued team orders at the beginning of the race?

"I think so. Sainz seemed to be faster than Leclerc at the beginning of the race, and Verstappen disappeared from sight. It takes about a second for Sainz to pass, and then you see whether he can go faster or not. Things like that are often considered at Ferrari until the rear driver has asked too much of his tires and it's already pointless. If Ferrari wants to win once, it has to accept in such a situation that a small loss can mean a lot. It sometimes seems like a tennis match at Ferrari when you hear how often comments go back and forth between the team and the drivers. Usually, that doesn't result in a good strategy either."

What do you think of Pérez's race?

"I give him an adequate, but can't say I thought his race was very special. Driving from fifteen to three sounds nice, but Verstappen's 24-second lead shows that the RB19 was still very dominant again. At the end of the race, Pérez did well, but at the beginning of the race, he lost too much time in traffic in my opinion. The Mexican was not very happy with his team's choice not to bring him in at the VSC, but that very fact gave him a different strategy, allowing him to overtake drivers after his stop. Before his stop, he made very little progress."

Who will finish second among the constructors?

"Despite Ferrari having to get three chances to cash in on one, I still think they are going to catch up and overtake Mercedes and Aston Martin yet. Maybe I am reacting a bit too much to the shape of the day, but I think there are enough indications that Ferrari can get hope. Aston Martin is going to drop to fourth place in my opinion, because the three teams are evenly matched, and then it doesn't help when one of your drivers barely scores. Mercedes and Ferrari have two solid drivers, and I think Mercedes has maximized its potential much more so far. Ferrari has shown in qualifying that it's faster over a lap than Mercedes and Aston Martin, and we've seen twice now that it hasn't regressed in the races. In addition, Ferrari now benefits from more wind tunnel time, as it was only fourth halfway through the year."

How did Nyck de Vries do this weekend?

"Reasonably good. The last starting spot is obviously annoying, and it doesn't look very pleasant for a driver who is already under pressure. Teammate Yuki Tsunoda didn't do much better in that mediocre AlphaTauri, though, and the moment when you can excel as a driver from a rearguard team, in my opinion, broke at the Sprint Shootout. There it was raining, and then De Vries stood there in SQ1. When it dried up, the AlphaTauri drivers dropped out, but he showed there that he can steer a lot. In the race, he didn't really stand out, although his track limits penalties were unfortunate. However, he was not the only one with a penalty. I just fear that De Vries will need more than a reasonable performance to keep his seat. The team management has already lost confidence in him, and he can only regain that by convincing them with exceptional performance. I fear he is already 3-0 behind."