Max Verstappen qualified in tenth place, and a victory seemed highly unlikely. Still, Red Bull pulled him in first, which turned out to be a brilliant strategic move made by Hannah Schmitz, principal strategy engineer at Red Bull Racing. Red Bull capitalized on Ferrari’s mistakes and stole a victory right out from under Ferrari and Mercedes-Benz.
Let’s not beat around the bush. Max Verstappen drove like the world champion he is. After overtaking Leclerc, spinning the car, and overtaking Leclerc again, the Flying Dutchman managed to eke out a 10-second lead. Sir Lewis Hamilton made a late lunge for soft tires and closed that gap to roughly eight seconds.
Verstappen was in a class of one this weekend. He’s now three full races ahead, with nine left to go. Even if Leclerc wins every race from now on, Max simply needs to finish second to win the championship.
We hate predicting so far ahead, but the 2022 championship is Verstappen’s to lose.
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