Verstappen denies being Red Bull’s number one driver

Max Verstappen has denied that he is Red Bull’s first driver in spite of things looking to be that way. He has instead insisted that teammate Pierre Gasly is actually on equal footing.

The 23-year-old Gasly, who has been given an opportunity on the grid this season, has struggled to perform, recording just 13 points so far.

Verstappen, by contrast, is driving far better and has recorded 51 points, which is more three times that of his teammate. This clearly illustrates who is currently the better driver for the team. The team of Red Bull will be glad about what Verstappen has managed to achieve this season after struggling for consistency during the last season.

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“I don’t see myself as a first driver and nobody in the team mentioned that,” the 21-year-old told F1Technical.net.

“We both get equal opportunities and I am just doing what I was doing also last year, giving the right feedback back to the team and then it is up to the team to bring new parts.

“So from my side, not a lot has changed, of course, you gain experience. I would be wrong to change something. It would mean that you were not doing the right things the year before.”

It is hard to believe that Verstappen, who is just 21 years old, is already nearing 100 race starts. He looks to be an exciting prospect for the future and Red Bull will be hoping to keep him for the long term.

He is likely to continue getting better with age during the coming years and could possibly one day become world champion. Red Bull are certainly not the force that they were during the start of the decade when Sebastian Vettel and Mark Webber were driving for them. They will need to make vast improvements to their car if they want to keep the talented driver.

Featured image credit: Dave Jefferys [CC BY-SA 2.0], via Wikimedia Commons