If you ever want to pinpoint a single moment in 2023 that serves as the perfect example of the domination Max Verstappen has unleashed, the final two laps of the Austrian GP should do the job. With a 24-second lead from Charles Leclerc, the Dutchman ordered his pit crew to stand ready to receive him into the pits. Why? Well, winning isn’t enough for the 2x champion now. What he wanted was the fastest lap and with that total humiliation for any of his rivals.

The Red Bull maestro went against the prudence of his own team and engineered a picture-perfect moment in the final laps of the race to pit from the lead, clinch the fastest lap and still finish comfortably ahead of the Ferrari man. But do we sense an air of arrogance in the 25-year-old?

Verstappen’s gutsy move explained

German racing ace and ex-F1 driver, Timo Glock, knows a thing or two about dramatic F1 moments. Naturally, when asked, Glock explained if Verstappen’s late Austrian GP radio call was filled with any malice towards the general competition.

In his column for Sky, Glock wrote, “Max Verstappen tried to have the perfect weekend, and he did it. He challenges everyone. If that had gone wrong, he would have ended up being the idiot of the nation. Nevertheless, it also shows how strong Red Bull is. They are very secure in their team structure. The pit stops are incredibly fast.”

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That being said, even the German sensed a need for the Dutch driver to not just beat but obliterate his competition. “Verstappen ended up setting the fastest lap of the race and didn’t give the competition any hope that there was any chance of taking an extra point away from him. That also has something to do with humiliation.” [translated via Google Translate]

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While everyone must be speculating Verstappen’s ego being the cause of the late fastest lap attempt, it actually has something to do with the late Dietrich Mateschitz.

Max Verstappen paid homage to late Red Bull boss with Austrian GP call

Dietrich Mateschitz was the architect of Red Bull’s siege on Formula 1. However, almost an year on from his unfortunate passing, the prodigy who was given his big break by the man himself decided to repay the debt.

After the race, Christian Horner revealed, “It’s the first time we have been here since Dietrich’s passing. It felt very poignant that it was a great team performance today. We decided to go for the fastest lap on the last lap, despite the risk involved of fluffing a pit stop – it was at the back of my mind, his mantra was always, ‘No risk, no fun’.”

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Can Verstappen replicate his dominant Austrian GP performance at the British GP, too, this weekend?