Tom Coronel believes that Max Verstappen knows he now has a problem for the title

With six races remaining in the season, Dutch racing driver and F1 analyst Tom Coronel believes that Max Verstappen is now the underdog in this year’s title competition.

While Verstappen leads Lewis Hamilton by six points in the Drivers’ Championship, there is a sense that Mercedes is now the more complete package, as Red Bull has battled for outright speed in recent races.

Coronel told F1 journalist Ruud Dimmers on the Dutch edition of the RacingNews365 podcast that he believes Verstappen and Red Bull are aware of their status as underdogs.

“I see they still have a small problem there, Max and Red Bull know that too,” Coronel said, when asked about the outright pace of the RB16B.

“We just saw that Mercedes has the faster car. You also see that when Bottas can win races, because the two really sharp men are, of course, Lewis and Max.”

Dimmers agreed with Coronel, noting that Red Bull has only won a handful of races this season.

“I definitely think Hamilton is the man to beat, especially if you look back at this season,” Dimmers said.

“Where were Red Bull really faster? The two races in Austria and Monaco, but those were also the only three races. Then you have thirteen left so, in the majority of the races, Mercedes was just faster.”

According to Coronel, the clearest indication that Mercedes had taken the lead was Hungary, which should have favoured Red Bull.

“Actually, I already saw it in Hungary, which is a typical Red Bull track, but the difference was big there too,” Coronel said.

“Mercedes is still the team to beat, and they have the stronger car.”

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