We’re already past the Friday practice sessions of the Dutch GP, but the majority of fans would want their money back. As the race weekend is on the home turf of Dutch world champion Max Verstappen, most fans will attend the weekend to support their home hero. However, the 2021 F1 World Champion experienced an unexpected setback at the start of the race weekend.

Red Bull has undoubtedly created an extraordinary machine to support their world champion, but Max Verstappen bowed out of the first practice session early with a gear box issue. This RB18 unreliability issue for Verstappen at his home Grand Prix is similar to the problem he faced at the start of the season. It may hurt the Dutchman’s chances of a hat trick of wins.

One can never count the Dutchman out, especially with the last two races as proof. However, a former Dutch F1 driver believes the limited time on the track will be a huge obstacle for Red Bull and Verstappen.

Discussing the FP1 gearbox issue, Christijan Albers said, “It just sucks, especially for Max. You just see that everything has turned around.” (Translated by Google)

“They don’t have a bad car. Everyone on the team will go back to work and analyze the data. Then they will find something, but they have suffered a big dent. They have to rely on Max’s information,” added Albers.

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Red Bull’s biggest rivals, Ferrari and Mercedes, have improved for the Dutch GP. Results of FP1 and FP2 serve as proof of that. Hence, it will be a race against time for Red Bull to get their car ready to challenge Ferrari and Mercedes, believes Albers.

However, if anyone can, Red Bull can. Even Lewis Hamilton believes so.

Lewis Hamilton praises Red Bull’s engineering more than Max Verstappen

The gearbox issue might become a problem, but if the Belgian GP is proof of anything, it’s that the Red Bull machinery is incredible. Red Bull has created a mean machine under the leadership of Adrian Newey. His work also made Lewis Hamilton eat his own words when he called Red Bull, “just a drinks company.”

Hamilton’s comments on Thursday at Zandvoort were in contrast to his previous comments about the team. He said, “I’m more impressed with Adrian Newey and his team.” The seven-time F1 World Champion added, “They’ve done a fantastic job.” 

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Max Verstappen’s driving has been fantastic in the current season, more so than the previous. However, for Lewis Hamilton, there’s an obvious choice in terms of who has impressed him the most.