The Dutch champion Max Verstappen is having the best time of his F1 career after he won back-to-back titles. This young champ joined the Red Bull family when he was just 16. After all the years, he can feel the love growing every single day. Not only that, he wants to be part of this family for another ten or even fifteen years.
According to Motorsport, Max recently said, “they know how much I love them, and I don’t want to think about changing ever. People like Christian and Helmut have trusted me since I joined here in 2016. It was our mission to win the championship and now we have accomplished it.”
The Present Hegemony of Max Verstappen and Red Bull Team.
The 2022 championship was a lot simple for Red Bull than its previous season. This year, Verstappen dominated with 15 wins out of 22 races. The 2021 title race saw tough competition between Red Bull and Mercedes, as Lewis Hamilton was the defending champion back in that 2021 season. But this year, Max Verstappen did not give anyone a chance to challenge his last season with utter dominance. Moreover, the Dutch and the Red Bull team are looking forward to making a hat trick of title wins this 2023 season.
In the words of Max Verstappen himself, the 2021 race was “unbelievable” and “incredible.” He revealed that he “kept on fighting all through and the opportunity he got in the last lap sealed the deal.” There is still a cramp in his leg but “its totally insane.” The 2022 champion also expressed his love for Honda (Red Bull’s Power Unit provider), claiming that they deserved all the appreciation and the win.
Max Verstappen “Surprised” With Red Bull’s Achievements
Talking about competition for the title, Max Verstappen expressed his regret that the last season was not as exciting as compared to the 2021 season. He expected the Ferrari ace, Charles Leclerc, to give him a similar challenge that he received from Hamilton in 2021.
Red Bull did not start the 2021 season well due to some issues regarding reliability. Leclerc won two races out of the first three, gaining an early advantage for Ferrari. However, due to multiple problems, Charles and Ferrari could not capitalize on the 46 points advantage they had secured. Engine blowouts led to DNFs on numerous occasions, adding to that mistakes made by the driver and the team taking poor decisions regarding strategy. All these led to Ferrari’s misery and gave an easy win to Red Bull.
Max Verstappen claimed that he was surprised to see how fast Red Bull got to dominate last season, winning the title with a healthy lead of 146 points against the 2nd placed, Charles Leclerc, with four races left to spare. Max Verstappen for Red Bull set another record, as he went on to score the most points in a single season with 454 points, a previous record held by Lewis Hamilton (413 points in 2019).
Ferrari Believes They Can Beat Verstappen If Everything Goes Right.
Max Verstappen looks almost unbeatable as he won back-to-back F1 titles. But Carlos Sainz, another Ferrari racer, also feels that it is not impossible to beat Red Bull. When the driver spoke to Mundo Deportivo, he expressed Ferrari’s hopes of defeating the current and defending world champion next season. Carlos Sainz believes Red Bull had the perfect year last time. He added, “If we have an ideal year, we will beat Max Verstappen this time. For that we will need to start well, the races in the first part of the season will be very crucial. That is what we are focusing on presently.”
