Formula 1: Verstappen was master and gentleman in his home and the great unknown knows when he will soon be champion again

There are seven races left to bring down the curtain on the 2022 season of the Formula 1 and it seems that no one will be able to stop the march of Max Verstappen and prevent the Dutchman from winning his second title in the premier class. the pilot of Red Bull was imposed this Sunday in a harsh Dutch Grand Prixin front of a crowd of compatriots who dressed the Zandvoort circuit in orange, obtaining his tenth victory of the year and the fourth in a row, to consolidate himself at the top of the standings and extend the advantage over his rivals to 109.

With a car that flies on all tracks, extraordinary talent and the support of a team that has developed all the strategies, the reigning champion is clearly dominating the world championship and has a dream scenario ahead of him, since, if he continues to this rate, he could secure the crown several dates in advance.

Verstappen crossed the line in first place, with about four seconds ahead Giorgio Russel (Mercedes) and more than ten before Charles Leclerc (ferrari), who completed the podium. The Monegasque – who after the first races of the year had emerged as the biggest threat to the Dutchman – gladly recovered a third position, which made it very difficult for him to fight for the trophy.

Red Bull leads with 310 points, escorted by his partner, the Mexican Sergio Perez (fifth in Zandvoort) and Ferrari, both with 201. And the title could be secured on the 18th round, in Japan, on October 9th. Although there is also a small chance that he will make it in 17th place, in Singapore, although for that he would need disastrous performances of his stocks in the next races, which does not seem very likely.

But without anticipating me, the only certainty today is that Verstappen is intractable and always seems to find a way to run his car and achieve great results, regardless of the circumstances of the race. Because this Sunday he didn’t have a smooth race like seven days ago at Spa-Francorchamps, where he started 14th (sanctioned for introducing new components to his engine), but he was by far the fastest, it didn’t take long. to climb to the top and imposed almost 18 seconds ahead of Pérez.

At home, even with the constant pressure of Leclerc at the start and after some Mercedes that had an excellent pace and with the changes of strategy forced by a Virtual Safety Car and a neutralization, he got an indisputable victory.

“It’s always special to win here. This year I had to work harder, it was an incredible weekend,” said the Dutchman, who had already celebrated in front of his people last year. “It wasn’t an easy race, we had to push all the time, a safety car came in and we had to make decisions and there were always question marks, but the car responded very well to the restart.

Verstappen started from pole and in the first half of the race he lost the first place only momentarily when he returned to the pits on lap 20. For the first 20 laps Leclerc was hot on his heels and didn’t let him relax, but the Dutchman had a better pace than Ferrari. Shortly afterwards Mercedes entered the scene and Hamilton, enthusiastic about the performance of his car, followed him closely, albeit without complicating it too much.

When it appeared Virtual Safety Car on lap 48, after Alpha Taurus from Japanese Yuki Tsunoda stopped between turns 4 and 5, crazy max and the two Britons entered the pits. The champion came out with hard tires and managed to stay in front; followed by Hamilton and Russell, both with medium components.

Lewis, with fresh tires, was on the hunt for victory, the one that continues to be denied him this season. He set a lap record in the 55th and it looked like he was about to fight Verstappen for first place. But to the best of him, him Alfa Romeo from Valtteri Bottas remained in the middle of the track and the entry of the Safety Car changed everything for Mercedes.

Because with the race neutralized, Verstappen stopped again and switched to soft tires. Even Russell, who asked to enter the pits and put that same component. Hamilton, after deliberating with his team, stayed on track with his medium tires and inherited the lead. But in the second half he couldn’t do anything against the Dutchman’s speed. When the light is green again, crazy maxFast in reflexes and with the best car on the grid, he didn’t give him the time to react and overtook him on the main straight.

Lewis didn’t hold back his anger. “I can’t believe they screwed me like that,” he yelled over the radio, blaming his team for the strategic mistake of not changing tires carefully. Later, after crossing the finish line fourth, he apologized. “I was on the verge of an emotional breakdown and I apologize to the team because I don’t even remember what I said, I just lost my mind for a second,” said the seven-time champion, who was one of the big losers on Sunday.

Verstappen, having regained the lead, was well on his way to victory, which tasted sweeter because he also took the extra point of the lap record and which allowed him to take a big step towards his second championship.

“Before Virtual Safety Car I thought that, despite being slower, we could have won on hard tires. When the safety car came out, I thought we should stop. We chose the soft, I went down to third place, George (Russell, second at the time) stopped and then I had a good run to the restart. And from then on we had a good balance with the car “, summed up the Dutchman.

“We couldn’t have done better, to be honest. Max was too fast. We were a bit unlucky in the race. Security machine and before, Mercedes flew on hard tires. In the end, Lewis struggled a bit with the used tires and I was able to keep mine to fight him for third place, which is not a bad result, ”Leclerc analyzed.

The Monegasque – who with the podium saved another difficult Sunday for Ferrari, who once again made an incredible mistake in one of the Carlos Sainz– The same is aware of the complicated landscape that awaits us.

“The difference with Verstappen in the championship is really big, but we will continue to fight to recover,” he said, without resigning himself, but with a tone that reflected how difficult that task will be.

The positive for Leclerc: the next race, the Italian Grand Prix (16th appointment), will enter Monzahouse of the squad, where he will play at home. The negative: that circuit is the “temple of speed”. And if we talk about speed, it is clear that today Mad Max and his Red Bull are unrivaled. Verstappen will go next Sunday for the fifth consecutive celebration to take another step towards a title that seems impossible to escape from his hands.