Max Verstappen given 'turmoil' warning as former F1 driver shares Lando Norris to Red Bull theory

He made history last year by winning a record 19 out of 22 Grands Prix and started 2024 in similar fashion.

However, the chasing pack have finally begun to close the gap to Red Bull with McLaren and Ferrari pushing Verstappen close in recent weeks.

It might already be too little too late to catch Verstappen, who holds a 69-point lead over Lando Norris in second heading into the Austrian Grand Prix.

Verstappen has proven how resilient and mature he's become in this dominant era, but Blundell - speaking on behalf of Free Bets - feels the drama surrounding Red Bull behind the scenes could be the only thing that comes back to bite the three-time world champion.

"It will be incredibly difficult to beat Red Bull and Max Verstappen," he told GB News.

"They're still in a sweet spot, they've still got a huge amount of confidence which will be quite difficult for anybody to erode, but there's been some turmoil in the background and a few things that may give them something else to think about.

"And that's probably the time to try and capitalise on it for everybody else.

"Sometimes, you have to play the long game, keep the team together and you might just reap the rewards later down the line."

Norris was seen as a top target for Red Bull to come in and replace Sergio Perez to form a super team alongside Verstappen.

Christian Horner confirmed talks had taken place previously with Norris to try and prise him away from McLaren.

But Norris put any rumours of an imminent move away to bed earlier this year when he signed a contract extension with McLaren.

It looks to have paid off with the young Brit ending his long wait for his first F1 race win in Miami and he's second in the championship.

And Blundell, who finished on the podium three times in his F1 career, feels Sergio Perez is still the best driver to have alongside Verstappen despite his current form.

"I'm pretty sure that there's enough data there and understanding internally in terms of their driver choice that they're happy with the choice that they've made," he added.

"Unless fundamentally, Sergio goes and wraps up two seconds of a lap in a box somewhere and leaves it in the hallway, I'm pretty sure that won't be the case, but I think you've got to look at it from the other side.

"Who else would you have put alongside Max that wanted to go alongside Max?

"That's a big question, because whoever's going to go alongside Max in that environment is really going to be up against it.

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"And for whatever value of stock you might have built, would Lando Norris had the opportunity to go and sit alongside Max? Would he have wanted to? Because the risk factor was incredibly high.

"He could have gone there with a high stock value and then after a few GP’s if it hadn't worked out, your stock would pretty much be gone.

"Sergio knows where his place is, knows what he can do when things are right, and he's proved that time and time again, but also knows he’s a massive support system to the team in delivering points on a consistent basis.

"And, you know, ultimately you got to think about that. It's the constructors where the title is and the constructors where the money is."