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Hakkinen knows how Verstappen and Perez can force win in Monaco
- Estéban den Toom
The Monaco Grand Prix is just around the corner, to be held this weekend. At the Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix, Lando Norris was very close to Verstappen. In his column, Mika Hakkinen talks about the chances of Red Bull's competition. The Finn also discusses Perez's situation.
"Suddenly Max Verstappen’s domination of Formula 1 no longer looks as certain as it did at the beginning of the season." Hakkinen explained in his column on Unibet. "Although he is driving brilliantly and has won 5 of the first 7 races, we have seen two other teams win – Ferrari and McLaren – and the margin of Max’s victory over Lando Norris in Imola last Sunday was only 0.7 seconds.."
Can McLaren and Ferrari put pressure on Red Bull?
"The question is whether McLaren and Ferrari can maintain the pressure on Red Bull. I think they can, there is a huge amount of work going into challenging the reigning World Champions, and there is also the factor that while Max is still producing the wins, team mate Checo Perez has had a couple of more difficult races recently, finishing 4th in Miami and 8th in Imola.," the Finnish ex-Formula 1 driver observes.
Still, Hakkinen thinks Red Bull can also force a win. "Unless Max and Checo can lock out the front row, a two-car challenge from McLaren or Ferrari could put strategic pressure on Red Bull during the Grand Prix, and that opens up the options for someone else to score a win this weekend."
This article was written in collaboration with Sophia Crothall.