Verstappen, Red Bull, Zandvoort, 2023 — Photo: © LAT Images

Max Verstappen

Sky F1 Pundit names driver he believes will BEAT Verstappen to pole

Sky F1 Pundit Anthony Davidson names the driver he believes will beat Verstappen to pole at the Dutch Grand Prix

Anna Malyon

Saturday 26 August 2023 13:57

Sky F1 Pundit Anthony Davidson has revealed he believes Lando Norris has was it takes to compete with Max Verstappen to take pole at the Dutch Grand Prix.

Norris had an impressive Free Practice Two session where he topped the timesheets ahead of the Red Bull of Verstappen.

However, despite the slim margin of Norris’s defeat over the Dutch driver in FP2, at just 0.023 seconds, Davidson believes that Norris might have the potential to wrestle pole from Verstappen.

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“Clearly Lando Norris had a great day,” he said speaking to Sky F1. “This is a drivers’ circuit and he got stuck in today. Looked good out there on the race runs, also on the low fuel as we saw, [he] ended FP2 fastest.

“I believe from this lap we’ve just seen here from Lando Norris in FP2, I think and hope, that he can take the fight and the challenge to that Red Bull in qualifying on lower fuel. The car for me, looks very good in that regard.”

“Not so much in the race pace, but in Qualifying pace, like we saw in Budapest, Lewis Hamilton got the better of Max Verstappen there in Qualifying. I think Lando can potentially do it here.”

Lando’s Opinion

However, even with Norris's recent impressive performances, including podium finishes at both Silverstone and the Hungaroring, he maintains the perspective that there is still a considerable journey ahead to truly challenge the competitive of Red Bull.

“It’s not the easiest track to overtake on and even if we qualify ahead of a Red Bull, our race is not with them on Sunday,” he said to Sky Sports. “They’re way too fast for us, even if I had the best race, I’ve ever had they’ll still overtake us.”

“Our race will probably not be with them but it’s a difficult race to overtake on so we will decide tonight.”

The fight between Norris and Verstappen is highly anticipated, however it may be a difficult challenge for the British driver.