Max Verstappen ‘on another planet’ after winning dramatic Chinese Grand Prix, says Christian Horner
By Issy Ronald, CNN
(CNN) — Max Verstappen is racing “on another planet,” according to Red Bull team manager Christian Horner, after the three-time world champion dominated a crash-filled Chinese Grand Prix to record yet another victory.
“His form is absolutely fantastic,” Horner told broadcaster Sky Sports. “He’s just totally at one with the machine and he has this unbelievable feel and empathy with the car … He’s just got this incredible racing brain as well so it’s almost unhuman what he’s capable of … Effectively he’s writing history.”
Verstappen has won every race this season except the Australian Grand Prix when he was forced to retire, continuing his form from a record-breaking season last year when he won 19 of the 22 races.
His dominance is such that he finishes every Grand Prix with a comfortable buffer; on Sunday, he crossed the finish line almost 14 seconds ahead of McLaren’s Lando Norris in second who recorded his 15th career podium. Verstappen’s teammate Sergio Perez took third place.
Verstappen had led for almost the entire race, staying clear of the chaos behind him which included a Virtual Safety Car that turned into a full Safety Car prompted by Kick Sauber’s Valtteri Bottas’ engine failure and problems removing his car from the track.
Just before the restart, Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll drove into the back of RB’s Daniel Ricciardo prompting another Safety Car and shaking up the race even further.
“Restarts, I think we survived that well,” Verstappen said afterwards, per F1’s official website. “The car was basically on rails, I could do whatever I wanted to with it, and those kinds of weekends are of course amazing to feel and of course, then, to achieve what we did this weekend is fantastic.”
Another Grand Prix victory capped an already winning weekend for Verstappen who had wrapped up the sprint race on Saturday from fourth on the grid.
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