Max Verstappen enters the Formula 1 season this year as world champion for the first time, with car number one and a target on his back.
While he is completely innocent of last year’s controversial trophy win, he has faced claims from some fans that he does not deserve the 2021 trophy. Not to mention a grid full of opponents to be the one who takes it from him.
But as the sun sets on the 2022 season, Verstappen has doubled his championship tally and taken more than twice as many wins as the rest of the field. There was no debate, no question and no doubt – Max Verstappen in 2015. He has more than deserved the 2022 world championship and was comfortably the best driver in Formula 1 this season.
His start to the championship would ultimately prove the most challenging part of Verstappen’s season, and it was for reasons completely out of his control. In the year Following a contested season with Mercedes in 2021, Verstappen’s dominance was challenged not by a silver car but by a red one – Charles Leclerc’s Ferrari, which took its first pole of the season.
Throughout the race, Verstappen was involved in an exciting front-to-back battle with Leclerc, with the pair exchanging the lead several times, but the Red Bull was unable to stay ahead as he surged to the front. Verstappen chased the Ferrari for almost the entire race until, with a few laps to go, he suddenly slowed down and the fuel pump failed. Forced to leave the opening weekend scoreless, the Leclercs drew first blood with a maximum haul of 26.
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Fortunately, Verstappen had less than seven days until he was back in Jeddah. But he struggled with his tires in qualifying and could only manage fourth on the grid as team-mate Sergio Perez took pole. After picking up Carlos Sainz at the start, Verstappen ran behind Lechler for the second race in a row before a comfortable safety car turned the race into a battle for the lead for the second time. Verstappen ultimately prevailed in this multi-lap battle, leading Leclerc home to secure his first win of the season.
Leclerc had the edge again in Melbourne, with Verstappen unable to present a serious challenge to the Ferrari driver in the race. Then in three races, a second fuel system problem forced him out of the race again, Verstappen could only watch as Leclerc won easily and took a 46-point lead over the reigning champion. However, this is the furthest Leclerc can get from Verstappen.
There was no better place for Verstappen to reassert his dominance than Imola. He secured his first pole position of the year in the wet, even while backing up under the yellow flag. Despite losing the Spanish race lead to Leclerc off the line, Verstappen chased down Ferrari and secured pole position for the Grand Prix. The following day it would ensure a great victory and a one-two for Red Bull in front of the Tifosi to move 19 points clear of Leclerc.
He lost out on pole to the two Ferraris in Miami but passed Sainz before turn one and then overtook Leclerc in the opening laps. Despite Leclerc’s push, Verstappen had more than enough nerve to hold on to the lead and take his third win from five rounds – a win in all the races he’s completed. Winner number four followed in Barcelona, but a rare mistake saw him crash out of the circuit in the first round. Although some felt he was gifted the lead from Perez in command of the team, the truth was clearly that Verstappen was the fastest Red Bull on the day.
But that was not the case in Monaco. Verstappen was disappointed to finish only fourth – and doubted his team-mate’s Q3 spin would have secured his place – but there was nothing he could do about third place and he had to do it after the leaders switched to slippery tires in the race. His team-mate was content to take the win for the Red Bulls for a change. However, winning number five followed in Baku when both Ferraris crashed early, leaving Verstappen to beat Red Bull boss Perez by more than 20 seconds.
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Verstappen was now leading the championship. He took pole in Montreal’s wet qualifying session and then led most of the race, resisting late pressure from Sainz to win number six. He could have taken back-to-back poles in the wet at Silverstone, but a mistake from Leclerc in their final flying laps put paid to that. He inherited the lead when he ran wide in the race at Saints Chapel, but was unlucky when he ran into debris in a collision between the Alphatauris.
During the sprint weekend at the Red Bull Ring, Verstappen’s preparation worked wonders as he took pole on Friday and won the sprint race on Saturday. But on Sunday, Ferrari was simply faster. He had no answer for Leclerc, who passed three times in the race, and had to be beaten by Sainz, but was saved by another Ferrari crash in the closing laps. Paul Ricard was shaping up to be another tight battle with Leclerc, but Verstappen’s challenge evaporated when the Ferrari driver threw his chances of victory into the tire barriers, allowing him to extend his fast-growing championship lead.
Not only did the winter break for both rounds tighten up the championship on both sides, but so did Verstappen’s two lackluster performances of the season. Hanging on after a power unit problem in Q3 left him rooted to tenth place on the grid, Verstappen scythed through the field and took the lead in the pit circuit, winning by almost eight seconds despite a fast spin on the road.
But by far the most emphatic victory came at Spa. With Red Bull unable to pull off the inevitable, they took a power unit penalty that sent Verstappen to the ‘back of the grid’ where he qualified. Naturally, he stuck his car on ‘pole’, which turned him into 14th on the grid. But throughout the race, Verstappen seemed to be in a different formula than the rest of the field. Such was his outstanding pace, he started from 14th and led the race in just 14 laps. Despite starting 12 places behind Perez on the grid, he took the checkered flag 18 seconds ahead of his team-mate after 30 laps. It was the crowning victory of Verstappen’s career.
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By now the championship was almost his. He delighted his fans by taking pole at Zandvoort and beating both Mercedes on his way to win number ten. Then followed his 11th at Monza, where he easily won a five-place power unit grid penalty to win. Singapore was supposed to be his fifth pole of the season, but a fuel mix-up in qualifying forced Red Bull to abandon his previous pole before finishing. In the wet, he was routinely out of form, losing several places at the start and even being locked in the breakaway on his way to a modest seventh place.
Verstappen was unable to touch him again in a wet race at Suzuka. After taking pole, he briefly looked under Leclerc’s pressure before moving into the lead at the first corner. He still dominated the race at the front to win by half a minute in the rain-shortened race. After a post-race penalty for Leclerc – and much confusion – Verstappen’s lead in the championship has now been confirmed as unassailable. He was the world champion for the second consecutive season.
Taking the title did little to ease Verstappen’s foot off the accelerator. He chased down Hamilton in what seemed like a year ago, beating Sebastian Vettel and Michael Schumacher for a record 13th win in a season. Then in Mexico, he broke new ground by securing victory number 14 – again ahead of Hamilton.
Red Bull will be without a win in Brazil after following the death in their event on Friday, which will leave them exposed in the spring race. Verstappen finished fourth behind Jorge Russell, Sainz and Hamilton, and was third after the Sainz penalty. He collided early with Hamilton in the Grand Prix – setting back his extra time – and had to fight his way through the field. He was finally allowed to pass Perez to attack Alonso, then controversially refused to return his last place to his team-mate.
But as it was at every point in 2022, disappointment followed with a win in the final season. He took his seventh pole of the year – still less than Leclerc’s total – and never threatened to lose the lead in the race. As he crossed the line to a shower of sparks, pyrotechnics heralded not only the end of the season, but the end of one of the most intense and consistent championship campaigns the sport has ever seen a driver produce.
Verstappen’s 2021 win may have made him world champion, but 2022 has made him the undisputed driver at the top of the sport. The final boss of Formula 1. With a record-breaking year in which he has been very special, there is a chance that Verstappen could confirm his F1 career status this season. But while the championship race in 2023 is fierce, it will take nothing short of brilliance to dethrone him.
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