Home F1 Verstappen feels despite dominance he was pushed by rivals in ’22

Max Verstappen, F1 — ABU DHABI, UNITED ARAB EMIRATES - NOVEMBER 20: Race winner Max Verstappen of the Netherlands and Oracle Red Bull Racing celebrates on the podium following the F1 Grand Prix of Abu Dhabi at Yas Marina Circuit on November 20, 2022 in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. (Photo by Mark Thompson/Getty Images) // Getty Images / Red Bull Content Pool // SI202211202716 // Usage for editorial use only //

Verstappen feels despite dominance he was pushed by rivals in ’22

30/12/2022

Max Verstappen not swayed by records as he notes that despite the dominance, he feels he was pushed in his F1 2022 title win.

While Verstappen was pleased to win the F1 world championship for the second time in 2022, he had little interest in shattering the record for the most victories in a calendar year. In the sense that the Dutchman wasn’t much looking at the records but more so his driving and where he can make improvements in a year.

Although the previous record of 12 wins in a year was surpassed by the Red Bull driver this year, he was more delighted with his success and improvements than the records he broke. “In general I always stay calm so that’s not the thing I’m happy about,” said Dutchman when asked about the record. “It’s more about just trying to make the minimum amount of mistakes.

“I think every year I’ve improved in that and that’s something I always want to try and work on because of course you can have retirements with engine failures or car failings, but there can also be retirements from yourself making mistakes and these kinds of things you have to try and minimize when you when you fight for a championship,” summed up Verstappen.

The Dutchman was quite dominant this season where he secured 15 wins of the 22 races. It didn’t start well as Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc had it in him early on but Verstappen eventually sealed the deal by 146 points. Despite the margin, he believes that the fight was close and that he was pushed by his rivals who lost out due to realiability.

“I think I did get pushed this year,” said Verstappen. “It’s just that some teams around us had reliability issues. Yes, it looks like it was a dominating season, but actually, when you look at it I didn’t even have that many poles because our car over one lap was for most of the season, not even the quickest.

“So I wouldn’t say that this was actually true domination because I think if you really want to dominate, you put it on pole, you just drive off in the distance and that’s it, which most of the time was not the case. So, especially in the beginning of the year where I don’t think we had the fastest car but we still did get a few wins which were at the time really rewarding because I knew that it was going to be a tough battle if nobody would have any reliability issues,” summed up Verstappen.

The slow start did catch them out but how the team rallied at Imola in the wake of a disastrous Australian weekend, he noted how important these moments are in a championship where they overcome frustration and bounce back.

Here’s how the F1 2022 teams were categorised in ranking: https://formularapida.net/f1-2022-teams-categorised-in-tier-system-for-their-performances/

Here’s how the F1 2022 drivers were categorised in ranking: https://formularapida.net/f1-2022-drivers-categorised-in-tier-system-for-their-performances/

Here’s drivers’ list of Top 10 drivers

Here’s the team bosses list of Top 10 drivers

Here’s Christian Horner on hiring Adrian Newey

Here’s Red Bull trio and Sebastian Vettel on multiple topics

Here’s Adrian Newey about RB18

Here’s Sergio Perez on getting first-ever Top 3 result

Here’s Red Bull celebrating at Milton Keynes

Here’s them collecting their trophies

Here’s Christian Horner on Mattia Binotto’s exit

Here’s Max Verstappen on Imola weekend being game changer