Spectacular Verstappen! Red Bull boss Christian Horner reveals why he has been so dominant this year

Max Verstappen clearly dominated this season in terms of results and became a double world champion. What made him so dominant? That’s what Red Bull boss Christian Horner recently discussed.

Fifteen wins, seventeen podiums, 454 points and a second championship title – that’s been Verstappen’s season this year.

Notably, the start to the 2022 season did not look good at all for Red Bull. Verstappen crashed out twice in the first three races due to technical failures, Sergio Pérez also struggled with technical problems at the start of the season.

However, during the next three Grands Prix, he won each time, replacing Charles Leclerc at the top of the drivers’ championship, and he did not let go of his championship lead for the rest of the season.

One of his most dominant seasons

Verstappen not only had one of the most dominant seasons of his career this year, but we haven’t seen many similar feats in the history of Formula One.

In addition to the number of wins, the Dutch driver also recorded the most points in a single season in F1 history, 454. This record has been held by Lewis Hamilton so far, scoring 408 and 413 points in 2018 and 2019 respectively.

Verstappen also broke his personal record for the most races won in a single season, with his best to date being 10 victories. In addition, the Red Bull driver became the youngest double champion in the history of the Queen of Motorsport.

Moreover, after the Australian Grand Prix, Verstappen was 46 points behind Leclerc, winning the title by a whopping 146 points at the end of the season. This is the largest points loss to finally translate into a championship title in Formula One history.

To make matters worse, Verstappen scored 9 wins, despite not starting from pole position. He set that record in the US Grand Prix, surpassing Michael Schumacher (1995 – 7 wins) and Hamilton (2019 – 8 wins).

Horner on Verstappen

“You forget that Max is still young – he’s still 25 years old and what he’s done this year and last year, I think he’s taken another step. The maturity with which he has driven this year has taken him to the next level,” the Red Bull Racing team boss told Racing News 365.

“If you look at the Grands Prix he won earlier in the year, he was spectacular in the Imola races (including the sprint – ed.) and even the wheel-to-wheel racing itself was stunning. He just kept on going, like a metronome – he kept on performing. The more pressure he was under, the more he could do,” he added.

F1, Racing News 365