Max Verstappen had a rather easy title win in 2022 compared to the complications of the 2021 title challenge.
Max Verstappen enjoyed a great title defense in 2022. The Dutchman dominated the entire season with his closest rival fading away after a couple of races.
Max Verstappen wrapped up the 2022 season winning his second title in a row at the Japanese Grand Prix. This was the polar opposite of his 2021 title fight where Verstappen went down the wire along with Lewis Hamilton.
After the fierce 2021 campaign, Verstappen was asked if he was ready for another such heated battle. To this the Dutchman replied:
“You can’t have that drama every single year, for sure. It’s not good for me, it’s not healthy for anyone in the team – both teams.”
Verstappen knows another hard title fight might be around the corner
Regardless, now Formula 1 is gearing up for the longest season ever. The 24-race season will be long and tiring for both the drivers and the teams.
Verstappen was hence asked if he was prepared for the upcoming challenges to which the 25-year-old replied clearly:
“If you’re not prepared, then it’s better to stop already, right?”
he said.
“I mean, I think we’re all racers and we love racing.
“Of course, it’s just that it’s nice to have a season like I had last year but it’s also nice to have a season like I have this year. It just would be very tough if you have that every single year you know, the year I had last year.
“But that also doesn’t really happen in Formula 1, so it should be okay.”
Verstappen now has successfully challenged the Formula 1 world title two times. One can argue he already has enough experience for another close fight like 2021.
Charles Leclerc also seems ready
The closest rival for Max Verstappen’s’ title defense in 2022 was Charles Leclerc. The Ferrari driver got a considerably good start to the season however quickly faded away due to reliability issues and errors made by the team and him as a driver.
Leclerc also acknowledged the big season ahead agreeing that one has to be ready as it is the only option:
“I think we are all prepared for longer seasons,”
he said.
“I hope it will be tight. It’s always nice to have a fight until the end. But yeah, I’m prepared for more races and for a longer fight hopefully.”
Max Verstappen on the other hand acknowledges the fact that red bull was fast this year. However, he believes that this doesn’t specifically give him and his team an edge in 2023. The red bull driver believes that rivals are catching up fast:
“I do think it will be closer,”
he said.
“People are understanding the cars a lot more and over time all the teams will just edge closer.
“We know over the winter that we really have to keep pushing and keep trying to find performance, and not only performance: understanding possibly the tyres even more, because the tyres will change a bit for next year. So yeah, let’s see how we are going to manage all of that.”
Verstappen won 15 out of the 22 races this season.
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