Super Max — Unearthing a champion
Formula 1 is a brutal sport which requires skills, money, and a good car. Every year, 10 teams or car manufacturers fight it out to have the best pair of cars to win the Formula 1 championship. Till 2021, Mercedes was the celebrated giant in the turbo hybrid era preceded by Red Bull and the evergreen Ferrari prior to that. Despite the car performance, often the driver’s potential and grit go unnoticed. Sir Lewis Hamilton is an undisputed legend of Formula 1, but his success is often pointed to the car he had across these years. While his domination has been stopped by a certain person called Max Verstappen in 2021, there was always a question whether Max Verstappen had it in him to defend his title this year 2022.
Not only did Max defend his title but went on to secure the world championship today in Suzuka, Japan with 4 more races to go. Now, the pundits could come out and say that Red Bull has had a superior car throughout the year which made it easy for him to win or Max ruthlessly drive his way to the title in 2021. The fact is that Super Max era has truly begun, and it is unlikely that his domination will stop anytime soon. Now, I am a personal fan of Sir Lewis Hamilton, and it is difficult to accept Max as a double champion, but his true skillset has been on full display this season. While Red Bull has been strong, there are certain things that have made Max stand out and ensure we keep an eye out for him for multiple championships in the years to come.
1. Countering Ferrari Dominance: Red Bull was not the only fastest car like Mercedes in the turbo hybrid era. Ferrari was equally strong, if not stronger this year. However, Max Verstappen countered that with his true grit to ensure he never let Charles Leclerc dominate after the 1st 3 races. This makes champions stand out in the event of real competition and has proved that Max will always be a threat unless Red Bull’s performance really drops down notches.
2. Belief in car and skillset: Having honed all his skills in the Red Bull driving academy and understanding the car in a true engineer’s sense, Max has gone on to do the unthinkable this season. He went on to win the race after starting 15th in a race. The magician in him also won despite his car going for a spin in one of the races. This speaks volume of the belief he has established within himself and the trust he has on the car now to be able to do anything.
3. Extremely freed up mind: 2021 was an emotionally heavy season with tight races and Max also stooping to bumping into cars which of course was called unfair by many. After seeing him this season, it is evident that he was extremely hungry for the 1st world championship crown. With that monkey off his back, there is a sudden calmness in his drive which you associate with legends like Lewis Hamilton and Sebastian Vettel. This is an indication of how Max is becoming Super Max.
4. Shutting down outside noise: After the dramatic end to 2021 and the polar opposite start to 2022, there were a lot of talks around Max’s win being a fluke and Sergio Perez being a serious title contender for the championship. In this instance, Max Verstappen showed true qualities of a champion by shutting down all the noise and the let his driving do the talking on the racetrack. In that process he ended up leaving all competitors behind with ease and it seemed he was just driving on another galaxy.
Though it may be too early to say, it seems that Super Max era has now started and is here to stay. There are a lot of potential world champions on the grid and Lewis Hamilton is still around but matching the dominance and free spirit of Super Max will be a tough ask and someone will have to drive out of their skin like Max did in 2021 to be a serious contender in the upcoming world championships. Not to forget, Max is only 25 and has started tasting success which can go on for even another decade. Thanks to Red Bull and Formula 1, a new champion has been unearthed and the Super Max chants are only going to get louder.
