Masterful Max can’t shake off titles controversy

Oracle Red Bull driver Max Verstappen celebrates winning the 2022 Grand Prix of Japan at Suzuka race track , a victory that sealed his successive Formula One world driver’s championship, fours races before the conclusion of the season. Photo by Clive Mason/Getty Images

By Sarah Hoek

16 Oct 2022

The Dutch driver has been dominant in the 2022 season and is on the verge of setting new records. So, why are there still questions about his titles?

Max Verstappen has been crowned Formula One world champion for the second year in a row, but the Red Bull driver cannot seem to escape controversy.

Although the Dutchman last week won the 2022 season with four races to spare, his 2021 win was far less comfortable. He and Mercedes driver and former champ Lewis Hamilton fought a bitter battle to the end, and the result remains contentious almost a year later.

The 2021 racing year was Verstappen’s first real chance to vie for the championship. The rivalry with Hamilton was tense all the way to the chequered flag of the final race, with neither driver letting up.

From the beginning, it was neck and neck: the decorated seven-time champion and the younger, up-and-coming prodigy.

It was not always a clean fight.

At the British Grand Prix, the 10th race of the 22-event calendar, the rivalry saw one of its most infamous moments, when Hamilton and Verstappen collided, sending the Red Bull car into a barrier and leaving the Mercedes driver with a 10-second penalty.

Four races later, at the Italian Grand Prix, the two collided again, with Verstappen sent airborne and landing on top of Hamilton’s Mercedes. This time, it was the Dutchman who was declared most at fault and he incurred a three-place grid penalty for the next race and two penalty points on his super licence.

Both drivers had their moments of brilliance – but both also were to blame for some touch-and-go moments. Sometimes the fight just got a bit too close.

Oracle Red Bull driver Max Verstappen celebrates winning the 2022 Japanese Grand Prix at Suzuka race track, a victory that sealed his successive Formula One world driver’s championship, fours races before the conclusion of the season. (Photo: Clive Mason / Getty Images)

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Ahead of the pack

In 2022, Verstappen has been described as a completely different driver.

“After winning last year’s championship, he’s in a different mode,” his manager Raymond Vermeulen told Tom Clarkson in Japan.

Red Bull team boss Christian Horner agreed, saying Verstappen had built on his experience from the previous year.

“Max has been on another planet this year, he has dominated this championship, driven with such maturity, such conviction,” Horner said.

Gone are the blunders and mistakes of 2021; this year’s Verstappen has driven with an ease that has caught people’s attention.

“Some of the drives have been just simply outstanding this year, under enormous pressure,” Horner told reporters after the Singapore Grand Prix.

However, despite his dominance in 2022, Verstappen has not been able to shake off the controversy surrounding his first win.

When Hamilton and Verstappen entered the final race of 2021, they were tied on points. It had come down to the wire and the stage was set for a grand finale; Hamilton racing for a record-breaking eighth title, and Verstappen for his first.

It was set to be memorable, and it was, but not for the right reasons. It ended up being a race Mercedes would prefer to forget.

Towards the end of the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, the safety car was brought out, allowing Verstappen an opportunity to pit. Mercedes, unwilling to let Hamilton lose his first-place position and possibly come out behind Verstappen, decided not to change tyres, keeping their driver on old hards.

Mercedes seemed sure the race would finish under the safety car, allowing for an easy win. Instead, race director Michael Masi decided to end the safety car, resume the race and let the cars between Hamilton in first place and Verstappen in second place unlap themselves. The cars behind Verstappen were not allowed this opportunity.

In March, the FIA published a report on the incident, and admitted that “human error” was a factor in the decisions Masi made, but maintained that results from the race and championship were valid.

Mercedes still disputes this. Coming into the 2022 season the new champion, with the number 1 emblazoned on his car, Verstappen was under pressure to prove himself. He had to show he deserved his title.

When the chequered flag fell in Japan, the 18th race on the 2022 calendar, Verstappen had won 12 Grands Prix, to title rival Charles Leclerc’s three. With four races to go, he is more than 100 points clear of the Ferrari driver.

Verstappen is on track to become one of the greats. He could smash the record for the most victories in a single season, which stands at 13.

If he wins the next GP in Texas, he will equal the mark of Michael Schumacher and Sebastian Vettel. If he wins all four remaining races, he’ll achieve a winning ratio of 72.7%, beating Schumacher’s 72.2% set in 2004. There is no doubt Verstappen is still on the rise, having shown skill and a winning mentality, able to rise to the challenge week after week.

Yet, despite his efforts to prove himself after Abu Dhabi, and his tremendous racing through the year, Verstappen cannot seem to shake the shadow of controversy.

On 10 October, the FIA announced that the Red Bull team had breached 2021 cost cap rules with a “minor overspend”. This brought a flurry of speculation over the legitimacy of Verstappen’s first title.

“Minor overspend” means the team exceeded by less than 5% a cap of $145-million. No numbers have been released.

While Red Bull disputed the claim, saying their submission was actually lower than the cap, Mercedes team boss Toto Wolff weighed in, saying a 5% breach could be worth many tenths of a second on track.

Ghosts still linger

The penalty for this overspend is also unclear, and appears to range from public reprimands and fines to driver or team penalties and points deductions.

Verstappen has undeniably had a phenomenal season. It is just unfortunate that the ghosts of 2021 continue to hang over his head, even as he celebrates his second championship.

Max Verstappen is certainly not done. There are still records to break and races to win, and, if he should get a third title, one can only hope it will be without the shadows. DM168

This story first appeared in our weekly Daily Maverick 168 newspaper, which is available countrywide for R25.

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