Max Verstappen has been backed to have a strong second half of the F1 season, having endured a winless opening 11 rounds to the campaign.
The Red Bull driver heads into the final stretch hoping to avoid a first year without a victory since his first in the championship, with Toro Rosso in 2015.
However, the Dutchman has been handed a shot in the arm, with almost a quarter of voters in a recent poll by RacingNews365 suggesting he will be the driver to score the most points over the last 11 or 12 rounds of the year.
Kimi Antonelli led the way on just over 30 per cent, but given the young Mercedes driver currently holds a 50-point lead at the top of the F1 drivers' standings, that comes as little surprise.
Verstappen is almost certainly out of the running for a fifth title of his own, but that does not mean the 71-time grand prix winner will not be looking to prove a point during the run-in, as he did so emphatically last year, when he won six of the final nine rounds, ultimately coming up just two points short of Lando Norris in the bid for the crown.
George Russell, despite sitting third in the championship fight, garnered just five per cent of the vote, with Lewis Hamilton enjoying a healthy share of over four times that number.
Reigning drivers' champion Lando Norris, meanwhile, sat between his compatriots — with Charles Leclerc — on nearly 10 per cent, coming into the second half of the campaign hot from his Hungarian Grand Prix win.
Check out the full results below from the latest poll by RacingNews365!
Originally published by RacingNews365 —
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