Retour sur l’édito : How did Max Verstappen become world champion this year?

The Formula 1 season is not over yet, but Max Verstappen is already world champion of the highest class in racing. How did he fare this year, after a mediocre start, and how did he run away from the competition so quickly at one point?

In this article we tell you about the course of Max Verstappen’s season, on his way to his second world title in Formula 1. The second in a row in fact, since Verstappen won the title on the last day last year, even in the very last round. secured. This year it was a lot less exciting, if it certainly didn’t look like that.

The start

For fans of F1 betting, Verstappen was already the big favorite at the start of the season. Still, after the first few races, it didn’t look like Verstappen would just become world champion.

Even after the winter tests in Barcelona, ​​Verstappen was the contender for the title. Yet it was already visible that Ferrari had also made great strides for this season. Mercedes seemed to be a bit behind on the basis of the winter tests, but the German racing stable had often held back, only to be there at the first races of the season.

This year, however, was different, as during the first GP of the season, in Bahrain, it was Ferrari that proved supreme. It was a dramatic afternoon for Red Bull, as both cars, owned by both Verstappen and Perez, retired. Mercedes came in third with Hamilton, but was clearly a lot slower than winner Leclerc and number two Sainz of Ferrari.

In the second race in Saudi Arabia, Verstappen narrowly won, ahead of Leclerc, who started the season very strongly. Sainz again finished close behind and Perez was fourth. Mercedes again turned out to be a size too small and Hamilton was even only tenth.

In race three, Verstappen again retired and Leclerc won again. The deficit in the World Cup thus rose to 44 points after three races. It promised to be a very difficult season.

The strong comeback

Despite the two retirements in the first three races, it soon became clear that Red Bull had the right speed to win races. That became apparent in race four and five, both of which went to Verstappen. The sixth race in Barcelona was also won, with which Verstappen had quickly cleared his deficit. It was also nice for Verstappen that Perez also did his duty and took many points for Leclerc and Sainz. Mercedes, and especially Hamilton, was nowhere to be seen.

In Monaco, Verstappen had a bit more trouble and finished third, behind teammate Perez and Leclerc. After that, however, he won two more races in a row. In England and at his own Red Bull Ring, Max did not win for a while, but in France and Hungary Verstappen made sure that he went into the summer break with a large lead.

After the summer break there was no size on Max

Immediately after the summer break, the races in Belgium and the Netherlands followed, at Zandvoort. On these two circuits, Verstappen showed who should claim the World Cup title the most this year. Verstappen was supreme for two weekends in a row and with that he took an advance on his second world title early after the summer.

However, it didn’t stop there and Verstappen just kept winning. With victories in Italy and Russia, he extended his lead even further and was able to take his world title in Singapore, five races before the end.

There things did not go as planned for the first time, so he had to postpone the party for a week. During a crazy end in Japan, Verstappen then secured his second world title.

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