Steiner greatly admires Verstappen's approach: "He's such a good driver. His attitude, his mental strength — it’s all there. That’s one of the things. He digests controversy very quickly. It doesn’t get to him. These are all elements... and you can see he's doing it because he talks about stuff. He doesn’t just sit there. He says, “This is what I’ve got to say — f**k off — I’m moving on.” That attitude, you know? It’s similar to me. Like: “You don’t like it? Sorry. Move on.”

The former team boss, however, thinks that this attitude and Verstappen's exceptional skills will not be enough to earn him his fifth title this year.

"I think Oscar will win it," says Steiner confidently. Before the season started, he already declared McLaren as the title favourite to GPblog, but now he also clearly places Piastri above Lando Norris in his expectations.

Steiner knows that Verstappen will do everything in his power to secure his fifth world title, but suggests that even he has a limit. "With Max, it will be difficult for him to keep following. Max can be 'Super Max', but you can't always be Super Max. There is a point where even he will — Because what he gets out of that car is amazing, in my opinion. It's something that normally doesn't happen, but he makes it happen. But still, at some point, there's a limit to being Super Max."

According to Steiner, it's only a matter of time before Piastri and McLaren consistently break away from Verstappen. "So I think at some point, they'll pull away from him. That's my opinion," he concludes.