Verstappen’s stance is clear. The 27-year-old is in F1 to fight for World Championships, rather than podiums or top-five finishes. Unlike Charles Leclerc at Ferrari and George Russell at Mercedes, he does not want to lead a long-term rebuild project - he wants immediate success.

The pair went wheel to wheel, before Verstappen briefly left the track and returned ahead of his rival, a decision which FIA stewards deemed to be in violation of regulations, subsequently hitting the defending world champion with a five-second penalty after he refused to give the position back to his championship rival.