New Record! Too Easy?

 Max Verstappen Breaks Win Record 

This past weekend Max Verstappen won yet another race at the 2022 Mexican Grand Prix, increasing his win total for the season to 14. With this win Max Verstappen became the first Formula 1 driver in history to reach 14 wins, beating Sebastian Vettel’s record of 13 set in 2011. Max Verstappen has a chance to extend his record to 15 with two races remaining in the 2022 Formula 1 calendar, races which will be held at Brazil and UAE.

The historic season Max Verstappen is delivering has also come with a lot of debate, he has been extremely dominant over the competition, which has led to some people speaking on the how this is all due to the car and that Max wouldn’t have done it against harder competition or driver a weaker car.

One of the most vocal journalists has been SkySports Ted Kravitz who said the following “Because the guy that beat him after being robbed actually overtook him, because he’s got a quicker car, because of engineering and Formula One and design, and pretty much because of [Adrian Newey, Red Bull’s design guru] over there.” After this comments Max Verstappen decided to boycott Sky and avoided any interviews with them, which resulted in big fines. Max usually prefers to get fined rather than talk to people who disrespect him or his team.

Fernando Alonso vs Lewis Hamilton

On the other hand, drivers like Fernando Alonso have been very supportive of Max, he spoke about how his 2 championships deserve more credit than the ones Lewis Hamilton won in the past “Max’s titles are worth more than Hamilton’s. I have a lot of respect for Lewis but its different when you win seven world championships having only had to fight against your teammate.” This enraged Lewis, who went onto Twitter and posted a picture of himself beating Fernando Alonso back when they were teammates.

Lewis and Fernando have a very toxic relationship that dates back to 2008, when Lewis was able to beat already champion Fernando Alonso while using the same car under the same team.

My Opinion

It does not matter how good the car is, or how unlucky, unreliable or underperforming his rivals where, the fact is that when he had the opportunity, he took it and did the best with it. This is easier said than done, many drivers have not been able to cope with the pressure of being in the front. Just like Lewis was well deserving of his 7 Championships, Max has deserved his 2 championships. This is a team sport and if someone else wants to compete they will need to improve the car, change the strategy and race quicker.