Former F1 driver Martin Brundle has hailed some of Max Verstappen's qualifying performances this season, but warned Red Bull the Dutchman cannot "carry" the team forever.
Verstappen has achieved the same number of pole positions as both Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris this season (four), despite an inferior car compared to McLaren's MCL39.
The four-time world champion started from pole in Japan, Saudi Arabia, Miami and Silverstone, although only converted the first in Suzuka into a win – he also won in Imola.
To take the fight to McLaren in qualifying, Red Bull has fitted Verstappen with an incredibly low downforce set-up in recent grands prix, hurting him in mixed weather.
In Silverstone, wet weather ruined the reigning world champion's race, as a very thin rear wing was fitted for qualifying in the hope of no rain in the grand prix.
Red Bull learnt from its lesson in Spa-Francorchamps, where it opted for a safer rear wing in qualifying due to a wet race being expected.
However, a thin rear wing was used in the sprint shootout, where Verstappen secured a front row start. Verstappen has been forced to go to extreme lengths due to the RB21's persistent problems, in hope of a good qualifying and big points.
On the whole, the 27-year-old has achieved consistent results, although has slipped to 97 points behind Piastri.
Brundle has been hugely impressed by Verstappen, but knows he cannot keep carrying Red Bull this year.
"Yeah, he's put some laps in, I think I described one of his pole positions as laser-guided," Brundle told Sky F1.
"It was just a beautiful way he was controlling the steering. The car's moving around, Max can handle that. He just changed his driving style a little bit and carries the speed.
"Super brave in Spa, for example, with the skinny [rear wing] downforce, taking some of those really critical corners flat out.
"And he can do it. But, you know, you can't pick a car up and carry it for a whole season."
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