Dutch press: 'Red Bull's plan with Max has long and been misunderstood'

The Telegraph

The Dutch morning newspaper writes this after Hamilton's 92nd victory in Formula 1. "At the same time, the Dutchman cannot wait to seriously compete with the reigning world champion. All fans are waiting for that, but whether it is very much the question that this fight will ever come. Meanwhile, Hamilton can already start thinking about how he will celebrate his seventh world title in the foreseeable future. Red Bull once had the plan to make Verstappen the youngest world champion ever, but that has been widely viewed for a long time. "

The 23-year-old Limburger could never interfere in the battle with the Mercedes at the front on Sunday. "Starting third, Verstappen fell back for a while due to the rise of McLaren, but he quickly put things in order. A touch in the first lap with Racing Point driver Sergio Pérez, who gave him no space, didn't damage the RB16 of the Dutchman, who then quickly drove back to third. Switching from the softest tyre to the mediums, he said he felt more grip on the new asphalt in windy Portimão, but his gap with Mercedes was far too great to play any role in that regard to play meaningfully."

The Algemeen Dagblad

The AD saw that Verstappen was not far away from Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas in qualifying, but a day later it was very different. "Before the race he still had hope that he would get involved in the battle for victory, but already after the first lap it was clear that third place would be the highest possible. Verstappen was indeed well off at the start and dived second into the first corner, but he had to give up positions in the pack. Bottas caught up again, but also Carlos Sainz and Lando Norris of McLaren passed him. Verstappen lost a lot of time in the first part of the race, even though he passed Norris and Sainz relatively quickly."

De Volkskrant

De Volkskrant pays particular attention to the fact that Alexander Albon was again unable to link up with the level of his teammate in any way. "While Verstappen drove to his ninth podium in twelve races on Sunday, Albon finished anonymously in exactly the same car. In Portimão, what has been in the air for a while became more certain again: Verstappen has a new teammate next year. teammate is important in the battle for world titles. It saves points from the competition and offers tactical possibilities in exciting races."

Albon has been driving for Red Bull for more than 14 months now. "But Red Bull have hardly benefited from him in such a way. When Verstappen fights against the Mercedes on his own, Albon usually dabbles in the midfield. Verstappen and Hamilton, among others, lost positions because they could not keep corners. the perfect opportunity for drivers like Albon to excel. He just messed up his start, fell back outside the top ten and then got stuck behind Kimi Räikkönen's slower Alfa Romeo. "

Het Parool

Het Parool concluded that the RB16 could not cope with the violence of the Mercedes in Portugal. "Max survived a chaotic first lap at the Autodromo do Algarve, the circuit of Portimão where Formula 1 was the guest for the first time. He dropped to fifth place after, among other things, a touch with the Mexican Sergio Pérez, but the driver of Red Bull managed to recover and still drove to third place. He couldn't keep up with the Mercedes at all. Not only Hamilton finished far ahead, the Finn Bottas also stayed well ahead of him. "