The old king is the new: Max Verstappen took the Formula 1 crown for the second time in a row at the Japanese Grand Prix. The now two-time champion had to fight against some resistance this season as well. In the decisive moments, however, he and his Red Bull team kept a cool head like a world champion.
If you look back on the 2022 Formula 1 season in a few years, no one will probably be talking about an exciting world championship fight. Max Verstappen’s lead over his pursuers is too big, the performances of the Dutchman and his Red Bull team were too dominant.
At the beginning of the season, however, things looked different. In the first few weeks it seemed as if Verstappen would have to slip from the role of the hunted to the role of the hunter. Ferrari was faster, more reliable and simply better. But then the Red Bulls and the two-time world champion made some adjustments that turned the World Cup fight upside down.
These were the key moments on the way to Verstappen’s second triumph:
Red Bull’s hopeless fight against Mercedes
As the saying goes: you learn the most from defeats. Red Bull provided proof this year that there is a lot of truth in this sentence. In the hopeless battle against Mercedes, the team learned one thing above all: how to develop a car further during the season. That’s exactly what they were forced to do in the duels with the Silver Arrows. And that’s what helped them this year.
At the beginning of the season, the Ferrari was still the significantly better car. The Scuderia not only came out on top on a fast lap, but also in racing trim. Little by little, however, the Red Bulls got their weight problems under control. At the same time, they also improved the reliability of the RB18 – and became unbeatable. So it is not surprising that the “development masters” are also world champions in the end.
Verstappen’s cool head in the hot DRS fight
At the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix, Verstappen and Leclerc fought a make or break duel in the final phase on 30-lap old tires. Both dug deep into their bags of tricks to get into each other’s DRS window. Both attacked uncompromisingly, both defended on the proverbial last groove.
The fact that Verstappen kept a cool head at the end and crossed the finish line 0.549 seconds ahead of Leclerc not only underlined the Dutchman’s killer instinct. The result was also evidence of the world champion’s newly gained serenity and calm, who might have crashed in a similar scenario in 2021. But after this duel it was clear: “Mad Max” has increased his level by a few nuances, has become an even better, even more complete driver.
Red Alert at Red Bull
While the double failure in Bahrain was still dismissed as a painful slip, Red Bull was on red alert after Verstappen’s exit in Melbourne. Helmut Marko announced “massive cause research” and called the problems by name. The list of defects was long.
With the RB18, getting the tires in the right window was tricky. The car was still too heavy for that. In addition, unlike Ferrari, the team suffered more from the porposing effect. At the same time, the budget cap ensured that Red Bull had to solve all problems with as few resources as possible. A mammoth task.
In the end, the warning shot came just at the right time. The racing team already launched a new update package in the Imola. And that ignited. Max Verstappen won five of the next six races and provided a 95-point swing. 46 points behind Leclerc became a 49-point lead.
As much as one has to acknowledge the performance of Max Verstappen and Red Bull: without Ferrari such a clear World Cup decision would not have been possible. The 22 days between the Spanish Grand Prix and the Azerbaijan Grand Prix were representative of the sometimes embarrassing appearance of the Scuderia.
Ferrari was on pole in Barcelona, Monaco and Baku. But instead of the possible 75 or 78 points for Charles Leclerc, the Monegasse got just twelve points in these three races. In Spain and Azerbaijan the technology failed, in Monaco the leaders at the command post.
Red Bull didn’t make a single mistake in the same period, taking three wins, two second places and one third place. The balance of power and the trend in the World Championship fight was clearly clarified after this triple header.
Verstappen’s masterpiece
If there were any doubts about Verstappen winning the title again after the first twelve races, the Dutchman finally cleared them up with two sensational performances in Hungary and Belgium.
At the Hungaroring, a track where overtaking is almost impossible, the old and new champion raced from tenth on the grid to first place. A few days later, the Dutchman was even more dominant in Spa. He needed a total of twelve laps to take the lead from 14th on the grid.
He finally crossed the line with a lead of almost 20 seconds – a statement after which even the last fan and competitor knew that the World Cup title would also go to the Dutchman in 2022.
Christian Schenzel